Bribing voters
Tuesday 30th January, 2024
The government has reportedly decided to enhance the fine for the offence of bribing voters. Candidates contesting elections bribe electors in various ways. The election laws governing the local government, Provincial Council, parliamentary and presidential elections are very explicit on what election bribes are.
Bribing voters is the name of the game in Sri Lankan electoral politics. Candidates play Santa in the run-up to every election. Truckloads of dry rations and even liquor are generously distributed among the poor. Instances where needy voters are given cash for votes are not uncommon. Politicians only pay lip service to eradicating poverty, for they have block votes among the poor, whose desperation to dull the pangs of hunger take precedence over everything else.
A rare instance of an elected representative being unseated for bribing voters in this country was reported from Monaragala in 2021, when an unsuccessful UNP candidate and the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) moved the Monaragala High Court against SLPP Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) member, D. M. Harshaka Priya Dissanayake, for having borne the cost of water and electricity connections for many households that accounted for the majority of the votes in Ward No 06, Maduruketiya in Monaragala PS. He had also distributed dry rations and liquor among voters, the court was told.
One of the main arguments against the Proportional Representation system (PRS) is that candidates contesting Provincial Council and parliamentary elections need huge amounts of funds for electioneering throughout electoral districts. Interestingly, the Monaragala PS member who lost his seat contested the LG polls under the mixed electoral system, which was introduced as an alternative to PRS. Dissident SLPP MP Dullas Alahapperuma has demolished the arguments against PRS by winning general elections without incurring huge campaign expenditure. Alahapperuma’s election campaigns, in the Matara District, have been free from posters, handouts, decorations, bribery, vehicle parades, etc. If he can do so, why can’t others?
The current government introduced the Regulation of Election Expenditure Act, No. 3 of 2023, which is believed to have fulfilled a long-felt need. It contains some progressive features such as restrictions on campaign finance. It prohibits donations or contributions in cash or kind from state institutions, foreign governments, international organisations, and bodies corporate, or incorporated or registered outside Sri Lanka, companies whose foreign shareholding is fifty percent or above, and any person whose identity is not disclosed.
The new laws require the candidates to submit a return of all donations or contributions. The calculation of the authorised amount of campaign expenditure for a candidate is simple. One only has to multiply the number of registered voters, in a ward or a district, by the amount fixed by the Election Commission (EC). It has been claimed in some quarters that the authorised amount is woefully insufficient, but the EC is au fait with campaign expenditure, and it is imperative that funds received and spent by individual candidates, political parties and independent groups be closely monitored and the cost of electioneering kept low to ensure equitable representation in political institutions.
Making laws is one thing but ensuring that all candidates abide by them is quite another. It is an uphill task for the EC and the returning officers to monitor campaign expenditure and ensure that candidates do not resort to corrupt practices. Above all, politicians know more than one way to shoe a horse, and will continue to throw money around to win elections and receive financial assistance from unscrupulous moneybags. There’s the rub. One can only hope that the new campaign expenditure laws will be strictly enforced.
