Article No 7894
Posted on July 28, 2010 by Kalani
By Sandun A. Jaysekera
Amendments to the Local Government Election Bill will be presented in parliament next month and elections will be held under the new electoral system as the government and the main opposition United National Party (UNP) have agreed on this matter, Minister Dinesh Gunawardana said yesterday.
Minister Gunawardana who heads the parliamentary select committee on electoral reforms told Daily Mirror the government and the UNP had also agreed to expedite the process on the initiative of President Mahinda Rajapaksa had conducted several rounds of talks leading to a consensus.
The main feature of the amendments would be the re-introduction of the first-past-the-post system blended with the proportional representation system.
“It was agreed in principle that 75 per cent of members of local councils would be elected through the first-past-the-post system and 25 per cent on the PR system,” the minister said.
Of the 25 per cent on the PR 25 per cent will be from among those who contested and lost on the first-past-the-post system. This is being done to ensure fair representation for minority party members. The proposals were agreed upon with certain changes with each local council authority having to include the names of candidates of each ward from each political party in the nomination paper certified by the General Secretary of the party.
The chairman and the deputy chairman of the local authority has to be elected from the party that polls the highest number of seats and in an event of the failure to pass the budget the earlier procedure will come into operation. If and when the Chairman and the deputy Chairman were not elected from the party that polled the highest number of seats, the authority will elect them from the full membership, Minister Gunawardana said.
He said the ‘Jana Sabas’ – a new introduction to the local government sector will work with elected ward members.
TUESDAY, 27 JULY 2010 00:00
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