By The Pulseline News Desk
The Government’s handling of the country’s long-delayed Provincial Council elections has come under renewed pressure, with four Opposition members boycotting the 10th meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee tasked with finding a way forward.
SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Mano Ganesan, Shanakiyan Rasamanickam and Nizam Kariapper had walked out of the meeting, accusing the Committee of failing to demonstrate the urgency needed to resolve the electoral deadlock.
Speaking on behalf of the Opposition members, Rasamanickam has said they could no longer support a process that had held 10 meetings without producing meaningful progress towards restoring elected Provincial Councils.
The dispute comes as the Government faces growing questions over when voters will once again be given the opportunity to elect provincial representatives.
Solutions already on the table
Rasamanickam has argued that the Committee is not short of options. The Election Commission has already proposed conducting the elections under the existing proportional representation system, while ensuring 25% representation for women.
A further legislative option is also available through a Private Members’ Bill presented by Rasamanickam on Provincial Council elections, which is currently on Parliament’s Order Paper.
According to the Opposition, the issue therefore is no longer about finding a mechanism, but whether the Government has the political will to make a decision.
“These options are already before Parliament. What is required now is not further delay, but the political will to make a decision and take concrete steps towards holding the elections,” Rasamanickam has told the Committee.
Manifesto pledge under scrutiny
The Opposition has also turned the spotlight on the Government’s own election promises.
Rasamanickam has pointed out that the NPP’s 2024 Presidential Election Manifesto had committed to holding Provincial Council and Local Government elections within one year of assuming office. The pledge appears on page 128 of the manifesto.
With Provincial Councils having remained without elected representatives for several years, the Opposition argues that continued delays risk further weakening democratic representation at the provincial level.
The four MPs have therefore called for the Government and the Select Committee to agree on a clear timetable and concrete steps to conduct the elections.
A warning from the Opposition
The walkout also signals a potential escalation of the Opposition’s campaign on the issue.
Rasamanickam has warned that if the Select Committee continues to show what he described as a lack of serious political commitment, the four Opposition members would be forced to take “a very serious decision.”
He has declined to disclose what that decision would entail.
For a Government that came to power promising political and institutional reform, the Provincial Council question is increasingly becoming a test of whether those promises will translate into the restoration of an election that has remained in limbo for years.
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