by

Udaya Gammanpila

I made a request to the general public to contribute Rs 100 each for my election campaign if they believe in good governance irrespective of their racial, religious, political or provincial differences. Unfortunately, my message has been distorted to some extent in several websites in their attempt to add an emotional tone to it. Hence, there is no significant difference between my request and an appeal made by a beggar, which forces me to explain the rationale behind my request.

The second Republic Constitution of 1978 introduced revolutionary changes to the electoral system in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, an entire administrative district became a single electorate. Secondly, the Proportional Representation (PR) system coupled with preferential voting resulted in intra-party competition. The candidates have to spend millions of Rupees to cover the entire district and to compete with each other in the same list. In this backdrop, if you can spend millions of Rupees, you can get elected to Parliament without prior engagements in social or political activities, as long as you can reach the people through your propaganda campaign. That is why millionaires win elections at the cost of social workers and seasoned politicians.

International standard

Any candidate for the Colombo District should address 1.4 million voters which is a huge number by any international standard. If a candidate spends Rs 10 million for the election, he should earn it back during his term of office. Alternatively, he should arrange somebody else to earn for him. If he fails to do any of the two, he should settle his mind to retire from politics at the next election. Every candidate is not fortunate enough to receive funds from donors who do not expect anything in return.

There is a common allegation that politicians forget the general public after the elections. Frankly, politicians personally do not know the people who voted for them. However, they can remember the donors who financed his election campaign. If the politician refuses to meet the demands of his financiers, he will lose their support at the next election. Hence, they are naturally compelled to please the financers, instead of the general public. That is why politicians are compelled to make business-friendly decisions despite heavy resistance from the general public.

The permanent solution for this crisis is changing the electoral method. In fact, the Parliamentary Select Committee headed by Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has proposed a set of electoral reforms. It is a mixed method which preserves positive features of both the PR system and the First Past the Post system. It has already been introduced to local authorities. The government has planned to introduce this system to Provincial Councils after conducting an election for local authorities under new system. It will be introduced to parliamentary elections after testing it at a Provincial Council election.

Although the government’s plan is time consuming, it is prudent in deed. Parliament had to amend the Local Government Election Act soon after the introduction of the said reforms as there were no provisions for filling vacancies. There is a pressing demand for another amendment after a sequence of budget defeats at Local Authorities. If all election laws had been changed at once, the entire political system would have collapsed by now.

Amending election laws

Irrespective of amending election laws, a genuine attempt should be made to rescue the politician from the grip of black money earners. If we fail in doing so, good governance will be a never realizing dream. In the present system, billionaires get elected to public bodies in place of professional politicians and social workers. Alternatively, politicians are in the firm grip of businessmen.

Several countries have taken different measures to avoid this pathetic situation. All political parties should disclose the amount raised by them for the election in India. The USA has gone a step further to direct all candidates to declare their sources of funds. The election laws in most of the countries have introduced a ceiling on election expenditure. The objective of these laws is to ensure a fair competition among candidates. Unfortunately, such measures are absent in the Sri Lankan law.

In this backdrop, if people believe in good governance, it is essential for them to bear the cost of election campaigns of their candidates. That is why I requested all Sri Lankans who believe in good governance to contribute Rs100 each for my election campaign shedding ethnic, religious, political and provincial differences.

If we free the politician from financial dependency on businessmen, he will only be answerable to general public. Rs100 means only the cost of one meal for a very poor person. For others, it is less significant than a meal. In the worst case, people have to sacrifice one meal for establishing good governance. Buddhist monks sacrifice one meal for achieving Nirvana on a daily basis. People have to sacrifice only one meal for five years by acceding to this request. As the saying goes ‘No pain. No gain’, you cannot achieve good governance without making sacrifices. In fact, the Rs 100 you donate is not a mere donation but an investment in good governance.

Details about donations

After the election, I will publish details about donations received and expenditures incurred in my website with photocopies of bank statements. If there is any surplus I will donate it to the ‘Viru Daru Scholarship Programme’ meant for clever children of fallen war heroes, as I mentioned at the media conference convened to explain my novel fund raising campaign.

I have received an encouraging response for my request from the middle class comprising professionals, administrators, executives and teachers. Workers at several offices and factories had collected Rs 100 each and sent to my office through their colleagues. Some have directly deposited such collections to my account. When I go to meetings, people never forget to donate to me their share of contributions for my campaign.
There are school children who force their parents to donate Rs 100 to my campaign. In such scenarios, parents accompany their children to my office to make the donation. I am, in all humility, glad that I was able to initiate a people action movement for good governance.

My publication of the Assets and Liabilities Statement at the previous election triggered a public discourse about assets declaration by election candidates. As a result, the Elections Commissioner has made it compulsory for every candidate. My wish is that my Rs 100 Campaign will trigger a public discussion about election expenditure, resulting in new laws in respect of election expenditure.

COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY