Candidates Galore
State Minister for Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya sees no issue in the proliferation of candidates entering the Presidential race, stating that adequate financial provisions are in place to meet the expenditure. At the same time, he admitted that if the number of candidates becomes too large for the ballot paper, the paper would have to be extended by another page. This, he said, would result in additional costs, including the production of more ballot boxes, which he estimated would incur an extra cost of approximately Rs. 100 million for each additional candidate.
However, Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake revealed that every additional candidate entering the fray for the upcoming Presidential Election is going to cost the State an extra Rs. 200 million. According to him, the total allocation made for the Presidential Elections was Rs. 10 billion. It is not clear who is accurate regarding the expenditure—the Minister or the Commissioner. At the time of writing, 27 candidates have already paid their deposits. Among them are 13 Independent candidates. All indications are that this number will grow during the next three days (the deadline for placing deposits ends on August 15). According to the Commissioner General, at the last Presidential Election, 35 candidates were in the running.
Of course, there can be no objection to any individual coming forward to contest elections—Presidential or otherwise. It is the democratic right of citizens to exercise their free franchise while also participating in the franchise by forwarding themselves as candidates to contest elections. But there has to be a rationale for this. The Commissioner has already stated that if the number of candidates continues to snowball at the rate it is doing, they would have to add an additional sheet to the ballot paper. Considering that there are over 170 electorates in the country (counting of ballots is done at the electoral level), the addition of more and more candidates to the current list would mean a huge expenditure—merely for the sake of accommodating a candidate who has as much chance of being elected as a snowball in hell. This additional expenditure, needless to say, has to be borne by the public, which, to say the least, is unfair, nay, a criminal waste of financial resources that could be better used elsewhere for more productive purposes or towards the amelioration of the condition of the poor in this country.
It goes without saying that while there may be candidates who genuinely enter the race knowing well that their chances are nil but, nevertheless, are keen to espouse their ideologies to the public, for whatever they may be worth. A broad margin should be given to such persons. However, there are those who come forward to contest merely for the fun of it or as backers of some of the mainstream candidates, chiefly to occupy maximum airtime on the electronic media in order to queer the pitch for their rivals. The Commissioner General and his team should be alert to such designs and even go so far as to disqualify such individuals from contesting instead of permitting them to use their democratic freedom to make a mockery of democracy itself. He has already told the media that such characters enter the fray to gain favours from the main candidates, such as obtaining liquor licences or sand-mining permits. Hence, as can be seen, such persons are using their democratic freedom for personal gain and as such should be stamped out. Former Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya is on record saying that he would leave no room for ‘fake candidates’ to clutter up the ballot paper and also function as agents of other candidates. But from the look of things, this has not been happening so far, and candidates keep on mushrooming without let or hindrance.
Hence, some form of legal provision is in order to arrest this trend—if not now, at future elections. This state of affairs has reduced the whole electoral exercise to the level of a farce. To begin with, all candidates should be made to demonstrate their electoral strength, and those found wanting disqualified from applying for nominations. This will leave only those candidates acceptable to the electorate to run for elections. The rule should also be applied where Members of Parliament are concerned. Presently, all MPs are eligible to contest in a Presidential Election. This, no doubt, has paved the way for even a National List MP with no electoral base to come forward to contest. What would be the case if a multiple number of MPs got it into their collective heads to enter the Presidential fray in the future? The problem could become much more severe than a mere extension of the ballot paper.
Hence, all measures should be taken to make elections not only free and fair in the true sense but also free from unwanted encumbrances, such as the multiplication of candidates for no rhyme or reason by including every Tom, Dick, and Harry to contest, as is happening now. The franchise is too sacrosanct to be trifled with in this way.