The Select Committee, to look into and report to Parliament on the matter of selecting the electoral system under which the Provincial Council Elections should be held, is seeking information from the Attorney General’s Department and the Elections Secretariat.
The Select Committee met for the second time this week in the Parliament Complex under the chairmanship of Minister Vijitha Herath.
Expressing their views, Elections Secretariat Officials pointed out that the issue of holding Provincial Council Elections arose due to a legal obstacle created by the fact that the process of delimitation of constituencies required to implement the Mixed Proportional Representation System introduced by the provisions of Act No. 17 of 2017 has not yet been completed.
They added that, as the delimitation report has not been approved by Parliament, the next step in accordance with the provisions of the said Act has been to appoint a review committee consisting of five members headed by the Prime Minister. Although the report of that committee should have been submitted to the President within two months, it has not yet been done.
They further stated that there were no provisions to carry forward the Provincial Council Elections process as per the Act. Accordingly, Members of the Committee inquired from the Attorney General’s Department regarding the possibility of conducting the Provincial Council Elections through the re-enactment of the Basic Act. In response, the Attorney General’s Department stated that it is possible to repeal the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 17 of 2017 and re-enact the Basic Act.
However, Committee members also pointed out the need to add amendments to the said Act to provide for women’s and youth representation. The Committee also discussed the previous proportional representation system of Provincial Council Elections introduced through the Private Member’s Bill presented by MP Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam. The Chairman of the Committee instructed the Attorney General’s Department to prepare a report on the two Supreme Court judgments regarding the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Act, 2017, the obstacles to holding Provincial Council Elections, and the legal provisions available to resolve them, and to submit it to the Committee. It was also decided to summon officials of the Delimitation Commission to the Committee for the next meeting.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Ministers Arun Hemachandra, Sunil Watagala, and Muneer Mulaffer, as well as MPs R.M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Mano Ganesan, Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam, Chandana Sooriyaarachchi, Dharmapriya Wijesinghe, Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi, and Samanmali Gunasinghe.