By Veeragathy  Thanabalasingham

Colombo, May 24 – The Sri Lankan government and the opposition are locked in a tussle over the formation of many local government bodies after the elections held earlier this month. There is widespread talk in political circles that the government is in no hurry to hold the provincial council elections due to the significant drop in the votes of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) in the local polls.

Not only the government, even the opposition parties are not willing to face  the provincial council elections in the near future. Therefore, there will be no pressure on the government from the Southern political parties to hold provincial elections.

The Tamil political parties in the North and East are also not demanding that the provincial council elections, which have been delayed for several years, be held soon and the administration of the provinces handed over to elected representatives.

The leaders of the Tamil parties, who usually appeal to the Indian leaders to exert pressure  for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution do not take up the issue  directly with the government.

Although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in New Delhi and Colombo, within a short span of time, to fully implement Sri Lanka’s constitution and hold provincial council elections as soon as possible, it is unclear when the government will hold provincial council elections.

The president has not publicly responded to Modi’s appeal. He doesn’t often talk about issues related to the national question. He seems to be only wary that any action by his government on the problems of the minority communities should not alienate the nationalist constituency in southern Sri Lanka.

Against such a backdrop, the recent comments by two civil society activists and a former diplomat from the south on provincial council elections are of particular interest.

The Executive Director of the National Peace Council, Dr. Jahan Perera, who has consistently been urging the governments to hold provincial council elections as soon as possible, has written that the devolution of power should be revitalized by strengthening the provincial councils elected by the people and reducing the gubernatorial  powers which  hinder  the effective functioning of the elected provincial councils.

The National Peace Council has also requested  the government to appoint another ministerial-level committee, similar to the one appointed to look into the possibilities of repealing  the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)  to review the curtailing the powers of provincial governors. In fact, this demand should have come from the Tamil parties long ago.

During a meeting with Vikram Misri, who is currently the Foreign Secretary of India, when he was  Deputy Indian High Commissioner in Colombo several years ago, Tamil journalists told him that due to the excessive powers of the governors who are the direct representatives of the executive president, the chief ministers of the provinces were not able to work in an effective  manner and that the Tamil people were not able to benefit from the provincial councils. In response, Misri said that Tamil politicians should have demanded and put pressure on Sri Lankan governments to delegate substantial powers of the governors to chief ministers. “Why didn’t they do that? “he asked.

Former diplomat and political analyst Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka has said in a recent article in a Colombo English daily in the wake of the local polls that the Tamil parties, which have considerably recovered from the setback they suffered in the parliamentary elections  in the Northern and Eastern provinces , would be wise at the moment to concertedly demand the government to remove the issues that are hindering the holding of provincial council elections through parliamentary measures and hold those elections on time.

He also wrote that such a demand could win support in the south  and in the international community, and that any negotiations on constitutional reform could only be between the newly elected provincial councils  and President Dissanayake’s administration. It seems that Dr. Dayan is of the view that the outcome of the talks between the provincial councils and the government can be presented to an All Party Conference to move towards an acceptable  political solution.

But the Tamil parties, which have been talking about finding an interim solution to the ethnic problem and moving from it to a long-term solution, are not thinking about practical approaches to it.

It is a general view that the delimitation process, which has not been completed after the enactment of a law in Parliament to hold the provincial council elections in a mixed electoral system like the local government elections, is a major impediment to the provincial council elections. Elections Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake has said a few days ago that the provincial council elections could be held only if the delimitation process was completed or the law was amended to hold the elections on a fully proportional representation basis.

In a letter to him, civil society activist and political analyst Kusal Perera said the chairman of the commission was misinterpreting the existing legal framework. He argues that there is no bar on the commission to hold provincial council elections even if the delimitation process is not completed. He has pointed out that the existing Provincial Councils Election Act does not become invalid if Parliament fails to pass amendments or complete the delimitation process. The commission is yet to respond to the letter.

It is strange that while at least few of the civil society activists and political analysts in the south are making such demands and comments, there is no interest on the part of the Tamil side, whether from politicians or political analysts, in demanding an early  provincial council elections.

No one should assume that this writer believes that a lasting political solution to the national question can be found either through provincial councils or through the implementation of the 13th Amendment. But no one can deny the fact that even 16 years after the end of the war, the Tamil polity is still in a political limbo and has no clarity on where to start in dealing with the problem.

There has been no change in the situation even as the Tamil parties have gained more votes in the local elections, claiming that Tamils in the north and east have rejected the NPP.  It seems that Tamil politicians are satisfied that the votes they got have once again proved that the Tamil people have not given up Tamil nationalist political aspirations.

However, they are yet to reach an agreement  on the formation of local bodies in the Tamil areas. They could unite only in demanding that the Tamil people vote against the ruling party.

Meanwhile, former Member of Parliament and General Secretary of the Ilankai Thamizharasu Katchi (ITAK) M. A. Sumanthiran, who met the leaders of the Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA) after the local elections, expressed his desire to contest as the Chief Minister candidate of his party.

But at a media conference, C. V. K. Sivagnanam, leader of the ITAK, told journalists that it was unnecessary to talk about the chief ministerial candidate as he did not know when the provincial council elections would be held. He also urged  journalists not to raise the issue of  the provincial council elections.

During an interview last week with a private Television channel in Jaffna, Sivagnanam Sritharan, the parliamentary group leader of the ITAK, was also asked about Sumanthiran’s desire to contest as the chief ministerial candidate. In response, he made some critical remarks about Sumanthiran. He also said that there was no possibility of provincial council elections being held soon. Sritharan cited the legal impediment over delimitation as one of the main reasons.

As a politician, there is nothing wrong in Sumanthiran wanting to be the chief ministerial candidate of his party. The party can decide its candidate when the elections are announced. While the ITAK is now said to be under Sumanthiran’s control, despite the vicious campaign against him by almost all the Tamil parties and a section of his party, the people in the north, especially in the Jaffna peninsula, have voted more for the ITAK.

A question inevitably arises as to how the Tamils are currently viewing the hate campaigns against Sumantiran.  The victory of the ITAK in the local elections may have given Sumanthiran the confidence to run as the chief ministerial candidate.

However, Sivagnanam and Sritharan, in response to questions from journalists  about Sumanthiran’s desire, should have said that they would press the government to hold the provincial council elections as soon as possible and stopped at that. They did not display political maturity.

There is so much personal animosity among Tamil politicians that if there is a chance that someone they don’t like could be elected as chief minister, they might not even want provincial elections.

(The writer is a senior journalist based in Colombo)

Sri Lanka, Tamil parties, Local government elections, Provincial Council elections, NPP government, A.K.Dissanayake, M.A.Sumanthiran,