Public pressure and the courageous stand taken by Sri Lanka’s Commissioner of Elections have made certain that the next presidential elections will be held this year; President Kumaratunga’s claim to a further year in power has been rejected. This achievement is of enormous importance for both social and political morale. Had this occurred during the referendum to extend parliament by the government of J R Jayawardene in 1982, Sri Lanka’s development would have taken a different course.
The coming presidential elections will take place in an atmosphere of complete distrust on the part of the people against the executive presidency as envisaged under the 1978 Constitution. The future president will be faced with the challenge of radically curtailing the powers of the executive and strengthening the government so that public authorities can function in an orderly manner. The future president must abdicate the legacy of earlier executives and ensure that the presidency does not become a means of generating social instability and political anarchy. A nation needs not an individual with extraordinary power to rule, but a government with the ordinary capacity to govern. The executive presidency in Sri Lanka however, has diminished the role of the government by vesting extraordinary power in a single individual, who in reality has no capacity to execute this power. The result had been chaos.
Public institutions need to play a significant role in the governance of a nation. The unanimous adoption of the 17th Amendment to the 1978 Constitution was admission that the executive presidents had destroyed these institutions, which now needed to be protected from such abuse of power. Although the provisions of the 17th Amendment have been observed only minimally, they have still benefited the people. By not taking responsibility for the effective functioning of the commissions under the 17th Amendment, the executive president has still been able to interfere with the performance of these institutions.
While there is much rhetoric at present about the breakdown in law and order and the increase of crime, it is not possible to improve the situation without first strengthening the government and enhancing the functioning of public institutions. In the coming elections therefore, the Asian Human Rights Commission urges Sri Lankan civil society to focus on the right issues rather than the individual candidates. If serious debates on the causes of the present instability occur during the election period, people will be in a position to demand the necessary reforms from whoever is elected to power. For this reason, enlightened public opinion on these issues must be created and sustained. The protection of democracy and the realization of human rights for all will depend greatly on how such a debate takes root in the country.
