“It is the responsibility of all political parties to compel the government to hold Provincial Council Elections” – Campaign for Free and Fair Elections

The Executive Director of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Manas Makeen said that conducting elections on time is a legal responsibility and  a provision in  the constitution a basic feature of democracy.

But, in the recent past we have witnessed that elections are conducted or postponed at the discretion of the political party in power. Accordingly, we cannot ignore the fact that Provincial Councils have been dissolved before their terms ended and elections postponed by the ruling political parties as they wished.

As at date the terms of all nine Provincial Councils have ended but it seems that the governments in power had no intention of conducting a Provincial Council poll.

We are aware that there is a legal obstacle in conducting the Provincial Council elections and that the Election Act has to be amended to overcome the obstacles.

The Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) has on two previous occasions has made two suggestions in writing to the President and all other relevant stake holders on how the existing  obstacles can be overcome.

The government has no ethical right to continue postponing the long overdue election but to either fast track the delimitation process or conduct the poll under the proportional representation system under which the previous election was held.

Therefore, we reiterate that it is the duty of all political parties represented in parliament to  safeguard democracy by initiating  a broad discourse in the parliament in this regard.

Dates when Provincial Council Elections were held and when their terms ended:

Manas Makeen
Executive Director – Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE)