At the meeting, President Maithripala Sirisena will instruct members of his Cabinet to arrive at an agreement on the basic framework of electoral reforms, leaving aside delicate and contentious matters, highly placed sources of the government told the Daily News yesterday.
“President Sirisena is determined to adopt electoral reforms before the dissolution of Parliament. He is now looking at the possibility of adopting a general framework as the initial step of electoral reforms.
At least, this first step will be taken before the dissolution of Parliament which is likely to happen before the end of this month,” a senior Cabinet Minister representing the SLFP said yesterday, while explaining the President’s views on electoral reforms. The minister said if the present Parliament failed to make any progress on the general framework, the new Parliament, which will convene after the next Parliamentary election, would be entrusted with that task.
Commenting on the matter, UNP General Secretary Minister Kabir Hashim said his party had no issues with arriving at a general consensus on electoral reforms as the party, on principle, agreed with adopting electoral reforms. “We had some issues about adopting electoral reforms with inordinate haste. It should be done in agreement with all stakeholders. But, we are ready to go ahead with a general framework for the moment and develop it further at the next stage,” Hashim told the Daily News yesterday.
“We don’t think the next Parliamentary election can be held under the new electoral system.
Even parties like the JVP too have expressed the same views. On the other hand, there is a dire need to dissolve Parliament and go for an election. Therefore, there’s no need to rush electoral reforms,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe told the Daily News that there was no legal barrier to issue a gazette notification on the general framework and present it to Parliament.
“It can also be further developed at the committee stage, as we did with the 19th Amendment to the constitution,” the Justice Minister added. The Cabinet sub-committee, appointed by President Sirisena on May 13 to look into electoral reforms, presented a summary report to the Cabinet on May 27.
The summary report, which encapsulated core views expressed by major and minor political parties, contained 15 main points with regard to electoral reforms. Cabinet sources told the Daily News that the general framework will be based on the main points included in the sub-committee report.
(Dailynews)
