Three Proposals Submitted on Provincial Council Electoral System

17-Jul-2026

.

The National Movement for Social Justice has submitted three proposals to the Parliamentary Select Committee tasked with recommending an electoral system for Provincial Council elections.

Through these proposals, the organisation seeks to ensure adequate representation for women and youth in Provincial Councils, encourage the Committee to consider the recommendations already put forward, identify practical measures for implementing them, and outline ways in which Provincial Council elections can be conducted without further delay.

The proposals were formulated after taking into account the views expressed at a recent policy dialogue titled "A Framework for Conducting Provincial Council Elections While Ensuring Women's and Youth Representation." The discussion featured contributions from Dr. Sujatha Gamage, Professor Sudantha Liyanage and local government member and Attorney-at-Law Lihini Fernando.

In a statement, the Movement's General Secretary Sunil Jayasekara said the proposals had been submitted to Minister Vijitha Herath, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to examine and recommend an appropriate electoral system for Provincial Council elections.

According to the proposals, the only practical way to hold Provincial Council elections without further delay is to restore, through a simple legislative amendment, the proportional representation system with preferential voting that was in place prior to 2017.

The statement noted that any attempt to introduce a new electoral model requiring fresh delimitation of electoral boundaries would inevitably result in further postponement of the Provincial Council elections.

While the proportional representation system with preferential voting can ensure that one-third, or 33.3 per cent, of candidates are women, it cannot guarantee 25 per cent representation for women in the final composition of the Provincial Councils. Recognising this practical limitation, the organisation has proposed that the immediate legal amendment should require only that one-third of the total list of candidates be women.

It further observed that introducing more complex reforms at this stage would only delay the long-overdue Provincial Council elections. In view of the mandatory 25 per cent representation already available for women in Provincial Governments, the organisation also suggested that the quota applicable to Provincial Councils could reasonably be aligned with the existing local government framework.

The proposals also recommend introducing a requirement that one-sixth, or 16.7 per cent, of the total list of candidates should comprise young persons. It notes that a 25 per cent youth quota is already in operation for Local Government elections.