electoral reform Sri Lanka Archives

Towards a robust ‘Representative Democracy’ via 100% Proportional Representation (PR) and ‘Country-first’ Nominations in merit order basis – By Bernard Fernando. The original Proportional Representation (PR) system of 1978, is despised by sections of the general public and the academia, due to the notion created by its political critics that it was brought in to sustain the then Govt. in power which has since been proved wrong. In fact, by default, it aimed to abide by the tenet of recognizing maximum No. of valid votes for the allocation of seats among Parties, to greater and more equitable extent than the old Westminster style ‘First –Past the Post (FPP) system which relied on the saying ‘Winner takes it all‘. Despite PR being an arithmetical device, it received a double whammy when the critics leveled another unfair charge, when it’s optional adjunct viz. ‘Preference voting’ mechanism opened the doors to selfish, power ...

Political philosophies of each party will decide the winner. – By Sunil Thenabadu Acknowledgement of every one’s cultural distinctiveness, religious principles and cost schemes suits an imperative vital right in current humanities. Similarly, casting one’s vote in a democracy, too, is a vital right particularly at the elections. Fairness is the best apparatus people have come up with for steering the trade-offs and weaknesses inherent in different socio-economic systems. Democracies allow inevitable conflicts to be resolved in a way that maximises fairness and legitimacy and that broadly reflects society’s views. An individual’s choice given in an election formulates a mandate expressed with an opinion for a party or a group of alliance to administer the state forming a government. An elected government secures a mandate to restrain freedoms of the citizens within the rules respecting the fundamental rights of citizens. As such all democracies are functioning as rule-based societies. Since ...