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Powerless presidency and power of parliament
Victor Ivan
The Sunday Times
Under the 1978 constitution one party can hold the presidency while another commands parliament. That happened briefly between August and December 1994, and it is about to happen again — and this time the President will be at the greater disadvantage.
The editorial argues that before bringing Prabhakaran under the law, the President, cabinet and Supreme Court must themselves respect the Constitution. It lists the caretaker government's pay rises, regularisations, a Rs 1,000 million handout through divisional secretariats and use of state media, faults the Elections Commissioner's inaction, and contrasts the
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga's 1999 victory rested on organised fraud rather than sympathy after the bomb attack. He describes S.B. Dissanayake's push for an early poll, a Samurdhi scheme to seize the poll cards of opposition voters, ballot-box substitution with compliant officials, the removal of the acting Elections Commissioner,
The rule of law is essential to the survival of a democratic political system, and when the rule of law is broken the system is damaged with it. What follows is a list of the specific breakages, with figures.
Ivan argues that voters, not intimidation, must decide who governs, and that a caretaker government using state power and resources for its own campaign betrays the constitutional compact. He condemns the PA's disregard of the 17th Amendment and warns that leaders unable to accept defeat gracefully cannot be trusted with
Chandrika Kumaratunga told a youth convention that S.B. Dissanayake had urged her to become a dictator and offered to have one or two critical editors killed. Dissanayake replied that she had discussed such matters with Baddegane Sanjeewa, the murdered presidential security officer linked to the Rohana Kumara killing. Ivan describes
The editorial says that the 17th Amendment, passed with cross-party support to secure free and fair elections, has been turned into a farce. It holds the President and the PA government responsible for violating it, the Elections Commissioner for standing by, and the courts for encouraging the violators, and warns
Prompted by Anita Pratap's book Island of Blood, Ivan recalls his own part in the 1994–95 peace efforts: prison talks with Tamil detainees after 1971, his view that Chandrika Kumaratunga used the peace issue for Tamil votes, his attempt to broker trust between her and Ranil Wickremesinghe, and a March
The accusations and counter-accusations in the quarrel between S.B. Dissanayake and the President are extremely serious, and both sides are holding fire — refraining from using all the bullets at once, and firing one or two at a time.
Marking fifteen years, the piece traces Ravaya from a monthly magazine under J.R. Jayewardene to a broadsheet weekly. It says the paper helped bring Chandrika Kumaratunga to power but then opposed her government, which subjected it to bomb attacks and record criminal defamation cases. It pledges the same scrutiny of
A young man who had got a job through Reggie Ranatunga was beaten to death after joining another party. The editorial cites inquest evidence that the politician struck him, notes that the Gampaha magistrate granted bail while the victim was in intensive care and was then promoted Director General of
Ivan argues that state officials and institutions must stay neutral in elections, which the 17th Amendment was meant to guarantee. He lists the caretaker government's pay rises, regularisation of casual staff and teacher promotions, the IGP's refusal to reverse post-dissolution police transfers and the partisan conduct of state media, and
At an election a private person or a private institution may help whichever party it likes. A government official or a government institution has no such right: their duty is to be politically silent and inactive and let the people elect the government they want.
Ivan predicts a People's Alliance defeat in the December 2001 election, citing curbs on rigging under the 17th Amendment, the defection of S.B. Dissanayake's group, and the UNP's alliance with the Muslim Congress and the Ceylon Workers' Congress. Using vote shares from 1965 to 2000, he estimates the UNP-led front
The editorial accuses the caretaker government of obstructing the 17th Amendment's election provisions through mass recruitment, police transfers and promotions for teachers who would serve as polling officers. It notes that the Inspector General of Police has refused the Elections Commissioner's order to cancel transfers and that state media ignore
The PA's defeat at the coming election is inevitable. Closing off electoral malpractice, a powerful group leaving the PA for the UNP, and the SLMC and the CWC contesting in alliance with the UNP are the main things that will produce the result.
The piece compares the JVP's 'probationary' pact with Chandrika Kumaratunga's government in 2001 with the LSSP's 1964 coalition with Sirimavo Bandaranaike. It sets out the LSSP's internal debate, the talents of its leaders such as N.M. Perera, and its ideological fit with the SLFP, and contrasts these with the JVP's
Comparing the executive presidency to seeded bananas, tasty but hard to digest, Ivan recalls N.M. Perera's warning that the 1978 system would produce crises once president and legislature diverged. He traces the Premadasa impeachment attempt and Wijetunga's restraint, then argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga's arrogance towards her ministers and the opposition,
Ivan likens all parliamentary parties, the PA, UNP and JVP alike, to maggots feeding on a festering wound. He examines the charges traded after S.B. Dissanayake and others crossed to the opposition, including Mangala Samaraweera's claims about Dissanayake's Hanguranketa mansion, and the defectors' own accounts of Chandrika Kumaratunga's chronic lateness,
The editorial argues that the People's Alliance government will be remembered for arrogance, inefficiency and corruption. It contrasts the hopes placed in Chandrika Kumaratunga with elections won by thuggery since 1997, development stalled and the Electricity Board's savings turned into debt, and a one-woman government in which she took the
