PM proposes ceiling on campaign expenditure 

By Saman Indrajith-June 22, 2016, 9:55 pm

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday in Parliament proposed the inclusion of a clause in the new Constitution to give power to Parliament to either ban media advertising by candidates vying at elections or to impose a ceiling on such expenditure incurred by political parties.

The PM said such a system had been adopted in some European countries. He was moving a resolution under the Constitution on the media guidelines to be followed by the electronic and print media during referenda and elections. The media guidelines were published by the Election Commission in the Gazette Extraordinary issued last February.  

The Prime Minister, commencing the debate on the resolution, said that if the first-past-the-post system was adopted under the electoral reforms, the candidates would not have to spend colossal sums of money on publicity as each candidate would only have a small constituency to cover.

"Even when candidates are selected under the proportional representation system, we have to think of imposing a ceiling on the expenditure incurred by the political parties on media advertising. It is high time we considered these proposals as we are discussing electoral reforms based on a hybrid system."

The PM said the need for media guidelines during election time had been strongly felt during previous presidential elections. "There were many complaints of the conduct of the state media during previous presidential elections and some even lodged complaints with the Human Rights Commission. The set of guidelines presented today is a result of a concerted effort by the relevant authorities to remedy the situation." 

The Prime Minister observed that the Resolution on Media Guidelines and the Right to Information Bill were requisites for good governance.

While the PM was speaking the Joint Opposition MPs protested, claiming that MP Mahindananda Alutgamage had not been allowed to raise a privilege issue. The PM said: "The Joint Opposition should not disturb this type of an important debate. You spoke about threats to lives today. How many journalists were killed during the period of your government? If you have any problem, settle it at the office of the Deputy Chairman of Committees. Then duly raise the matter next day." 

It was agreed at the party leaders’ meeting to debate the media guidelines yesterday but to postpone the ratification thereof till the resolution was whetted by the Parliamentary Oversight Committee with amendments if necessary.