The hunter becoming the hunted

By Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne-2017-12-28

After a long delay Local Government elections are scheduled to be held on 10 February 2018. According to the officials nearly 16 million people will be voting at these elections. No doubt this will be the largest election in Sri Lankan history. Luckily elections are held under the new system. The 'manapa' misery has been removed and these will also be the first elections under the mixed electoral system whereby 60% of members will be elected using first-past-the-post voting and the remaining 40% through closed list proportional representation.

However, as usual the turnover could be less than 70% and official anticipation is that the turnout of the electorate will be much less than previous ones. The last Local Government elections held in 2011 saw a voter turnout of 65 per cent. However, this time around the figure cannot be much less, looking at the political debates taking place. There is a stronger degree of voter attachment with the radical political parties.

In Sri Lanka Local Government has a history which goes into the beginning of civilization. The name Gemunu originates from village authority and refers to the village leader or the chairman of the village council. The Elara, Gemunu conflict was based on the powers of the Central Government and the Village Council in the periphery. In reality it was a socio-economic conflict between two systems.
Elara stood for strong village authority that controls the village tank and water management. Gemunu stood for the Asiatic State based on organized water management. Power of the Village Council is weak in relation to the Central Government. Buddhism backed the centralization of power with an organized clergy or Sangha. Later village culture, re-emerged as the centralized irrigation, broke down and it continued under the colonial powers. The British recognized the power of Village Council and they revived it with the support of local aristocratic authority while getting their support to the central colonial administration.

Today the Local Government elections are most important to the village and ward level political activist. In fact it was claimed that the 1971 insurrection was an indirect protest against postponement of Local Government elections. Therefore, the issues at local elections are usually not local ones, but national issues which are of more interest to the voters.

This election will be no exception. The Opposition in particular has been trying to induce voters to see the forthcoming Local Government elections as being of national significance. In particular the defeated fascistic political movement is raising the 'division of the country' issue as the main item in the political debate. Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is heading the so-called Joint Opposition campaign has clearly stated that this election will not be about local issues but whether the people want to support or oppose the Government and the proposed new Constitution. Also he makes the accusation that the Government has not delivered on its promises for welfare of the masses.

At these elections, the parties forming the Government will be disadvantaged by the slowness of their performance in delivering on the promises made at the national elections that took place in 2015. The voter turnout at the last General Election in 2015, at which change for the better was the promise, was 78 per cent.

The Government's main campaign promises, in addition to resolving the Tamil national problem and improving human rights conditions, were with regard to quick results in economic betterment for the masses and meting out justice to those accused of large scale corruption. These promises galvanized the electorate. Some say that the irony in this campaign is to see the hunter becoming the hunted. Those accused of large scale corruption in the former Government have sought to become hunters. However, the fascistic forces are well exposed!