SRI LANKA
INCREASE IN WOMEN’S LOCAL REPRESENTATION IN SRI LANKA
Hon. Faiszer Musthapha, MP, Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government presented this Bill to Parliament on 20 June 2017, the Second Reading in the Sri Lanka Parliament took place on 24 August 2017 and consideration of the Bill at the Committee of the Whole Parliament was held on 25 August 2017. The purpose of the Bill was to bring amendments to rectify the technical issues that had arisen when the New Electoral System was introduced in 2012 by the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act No. 22, 2012 and to make provisions for the compulsory 30% youth representation in Local Authorities. Through the Committee Stage Amendment, provisions were made for a 25% mandatory requirement of women’s representation for the constitution of local authority bodies and to prohibit public officers who engaged in field-based activities seeking nomination if they had not ceased to serve in the particular local authority, one year prior to the election. The Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government, at the Second Reading introduced the Bill and stated that the pith and substance of this Bill is to facilitate and conduct the Local Authorities Election in the New Electoral system, which was approved by the Local Authorities Election (Amendment) Act, No. 22, 2012. The New Electoral system was introduced to abolish the preferential voting system and to elect Members through a proportional representation and ward system. He further stated that the present Government introduced female representation through the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 1, 2016 which was a very progressive move in the history of the
country, where women were given a quota of 25%. He also mentioned that the requests of Political Party Leaders were taken into consideration to increase the quota of proportional representation to 40% in order to facilitate the representation of all parties. Hon. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, MP, Chief Opposition Whip stated that the main feature of the Bill was to change the preferential votes electoral system while safeguarding proportional representation. He also stated that unlike the previous preferential voting system, the new electoral system fulfills the aspirations of the people to have a Member for their constituency. He also pointed out the difficulties for the small parties in nominating women representatives, that the small parties are entitled to send one or two members to the local authorities and also suggested not to make it compulsory for small parties to nominate women Members. Hon. Ajith Perera, MP, Deputy Minister of Power and Renewable Energy stated that there are various techniques used universally to increase women representation in legislatures. In Sri Lanka, women’s contributions in the legal, health, education and all other areas are commendable other than in the political field. Therefore, the proposal was to have minimum 25% women representation in local authorities. She said that due consideration would be given to the grievances of all small parties and minority communities and an increase in the ratio of proportional representation up to 40% would guarantee the representation of small parties in the local authorities.
Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, MP stated that the new electoral system that gave priority to the ward system was introduced on the recommendation of the Special Committee on the Electoral System that was appointed by Parliament in 2002, subsequent to a Private Members’ Motion moved by him in 2002 to introduce a mixed electoral system. He pointed out the adverse side of the preferential voting system and requested that the government hold the elections for the local authorities very soon. Hon. Douglas Devananda, MP appreciated the decision to make provisions for mandatory women’s representation in the local authorities and requested that the Minister to take appropriate steps to address the grievances of minority communities and to introduce multi member wards to maintain democracy. Hon. Rauff Hakeem, MP, Minister of City Planning and Water Supply pointed out the major issues of the delimitation report and requested that the Minister give assurances and take action to rectify the anomalous situation by creating sufficient number of multi member wards to address the grievances of the minority parties. Hon. Lasantha Alagiyawanna, MP, Deputy Minister of Finance and Mass Media stated that the Government wanted to rectify the shortcomings of the proportional representation system by way of introducing both a ward system and a proportional representation system together, which would help each constituency to elect their Members as per the choice of the people of the particular area. He further stated that the Amendment brought to the Local Government Elections Act
in 2012 had lot of issues that have been addressed in this new legislation by making provisions to elect 60% Members through the ward system and 40% through the proportional representation system. Hon. V.S. Radhakrishnan, MP, State Minister of Education while appreciating the move to elect members by ward system and proportional representation system pointed out the shortcomings of not considering the issues of minority parties and minority communities. He also requested that the grievances of minority communities be addressed properly and make arrangements to increase their representation through the ward system. Hon. Dr Sudarshini Fernandopulle, MP, State Minister of City Planning and Water Supply expressed her pleasure in the decision to making 25% women’s representation mandatory in the local authorities and stated that the women’s 30% representation in Parliament also need to be safeguarded. She also stated that the Women’s Caucus recommended that women’s representation need to be increased not only in local authorities but in all sectors including statutory bodies and provisions should be made in the Constitution in this regard. Most of the Members spoke favourably for the new electoral system and for making provisions for women’s representation. Members also pointed out that the elections should not be delayed. The Bill was passed by majority vote by conducting electronic voting as per the request made by Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena for a division. The Bill was endorsed by the Hon. Speaker on 31 August 2017 and came into effect on the same day.
The Parliamentarian | 2018: Issue One | 73