Let creative and enterprising people head local bodies, not those with party affiliations

Local bodies represent the grassroot level power of the people to decide on their destiny. This encompasses economic, social, and cultural aspirations of local people which are not fulfilled by national level policies. For instance, at the national level, the Government may be pursuing an FDI project to set up an oil refinery. This may not be relevant to a local body in, say, the Uva Province. That province may need projects for improving agricultural production, marketing of produce, postharvest processing, and educating the prospective youth to become successful agri-entrepreneurs. That is a local issue to be tackled by local people

The decline in the voter approval for NPP has been observed at the national level, province level, and district level across the country. In the case of district level, it had only been the Vanni district where it had managed to get a higher support by a margin of just 1.77%. In all other districts, its previous popularity has waned on an average of 35%. In the Western Province where it has performed better, the fall has been at about 30%

AKD’s warning to Opposition

President Anura Kumara Disanayake, known as AKD, is reported to have warned the Opposition parties not to disrupt the formation of the local bodies by his National People’s Power or NPP Government while addressing the 60th anniversary of the main constituent party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or JVP recently.1 He has said that there had been a clear mandate given by the people at the recently concluded Local Government elections for NPP to head these bodies and it was the duty of the Government to honour that mandate. If anybody sought to disrupt this process, his Government would even use the two-third majority power in Parliament to amend the laws to thwart such undemocratic efforts by the Opposition parties which have been rejected by the people. 

His warning also challenged the Opposition parties to contest any election as united opposition and test their power with the people. The reason for this outburst by AKD was a decision taken by some of the Opposition parties to take control of local bodies by using their majority membership within many local bodies where NPP did not have the majority power.2 The number of contentious local bodies had been 117 where NPP had failed to gain majority power and 30 bodies where it had got an equal membership as the Opposition parties.3 This is despite the vigorous and rigorous campaign launched by AKD and his Cabinet Ministers throughout the country seeking a clear majority for NPP under the slogan ‘Victory is certain; Village too is to us’. The plea was clear: the nation had given NPP the power to rule the country; to complete it, they needed power at the local level too.

NPP losing popularity compared to Parliamentary elections

The independent thinktank, Manthri.lk, has done an in-depth analysis of the results of the Local Government elections comparatively with the Parliamentary election held in November 2024.4 According to this website, at a lower voter turnout of 61.8% compared to the 68.9% at the Parliamentary election, NPP has significantly got a lower percentage of voter approval just six months after it had got a thumping mandate from the people with 159 seats in Parliament, much higher than the required two-third majority to introduce any legislation of its choosing. 

The decline in the voter approval for NPP has been observed at the national level, province level, and district level across the country. In the case of district level, it had only been the Vanni district where it had managed to get a higher support by a margin of just 1.77%. In all other districts, its previous popularity has waned on an average of 35%. In the Western Province where it has performed better, the fall has been at about 30%.

Loss at both province and district levels

At the national level, its popularity has been dented to 43.3% compared to 61.6% six months ago.5 As a result, if it had got Parliamentary power based on the results of the Local Government elections, the number of Parliamentarians returned would decline from 159 to 121, clearly losing the two-third majority in Parliament. In contrast, the number of MPs returned to Parliament by the main Opposition party, Samagi Jana Balavegaya or SJB would have increased from 40 to 51. The largest increase in the popularity had been observed in the case of the Sri Lanka Podujana Party or SLPP from 3 to 22. Even the United National Party or UNP which had been wiped out in the Parliamentary elections had been able to increase its Parliamentary seats from one to seven. 

Therefore, though NPP is still leading, its popularity has been gravely dented within just six months of forming a very strong Government. Thus, the strange outcome of the Local Government elections has been that the Opposition which did a lacklustre campaign is rising in popularity to the dismay of the Government. It shows the opposition of the people to the Government and its policies. Naturally, AKD should be unhappy.

No Opposition in local bodies

The stand taken by both NPP and the Opposition parties on the formation of rule at the local level in local bodies is not in accord with the principles of local government. This is because local bodies are different from legislatures at the national level. At the national level in Parliament, there is a government party formed by MPs made up of majority and an opposition formed by the rest of the MPs who belong to the minority. Hence, there is a Prime Minister and the Cabinet of ministers representing the government in Parliament. Likewise, there is an opposition leader who represents the opposition. 

At the local government level, there is no such division. There is a mayor in the case of a municipal council and a chairman in the case of other local bodies, namely, town councils, urban councils, and Pradeshiya Sabhas. There is no formally appointed leader of opposition in terms of the law. This arrangement has been made to facilitate all the members to get together as a team to work for the furtherance of the people living within its area of authority.

The formation of the rule in the local body on political lines defies this fine principle of local government. It is often argued that the presence of an opposition party in a local body improves the governance being practised by it by having a group that will critique the policies and their implementation. It is claimed that the presence of an opposition will help those in the opposition to uncover the wrongdoings of the members who are in power and hound them publicly for their misdeeds. It will make those who run the local body to be more transparent and accountable. But the crucial requirement for meeting this goal is that the opposition members should negatively critique the ruling party policies. However, an empirical study done with respect to the performance of the opposition in municipal councils in El Salvador has not supported this view.6

Though NPP is still leading, its popularity has been gravely dented within just six months of forming a very strong Government. Thus, the strange outcome of the Local Government elections has been that the Opposition which did a lacklustre campaign is rising in popularity to the dismay of the Government. It shows the opposition of the people to the Government and its policies. Naturally, AKD should be unhappy

Both NPP and the Opposition parties should shed political differences and unite, not to contest elections against each other as suggested by AKD, but to deliver prosperity to people in the local areas. They should select the best enterprising, creative, and innovative person as the mayor or the chairman of the local body, since running a local body with its own distinctive vision and mission based on local requirements requires a competent CEO to head it. The selection based on political affiliations will not deliver such a competent person as its head. If a member is competent, has a proven track record for delivering what he promises, and can command recognition of people around, he should be appointed as the head of the local body irrespective of whether he comes from NPP or from an Opposition party

United attempt for furthering wellbeing of people

At the local levels what is needed is not the play of party politics, but a united attempt made by all at furthering the local development and promoting the wellbeing of the people. Local bodies functioning on political lines have several disadvantages.

First, the chairman who comes from the majority political party may not be the most efficient, enterprising, and innovative member in the council. The chairman is equivalent to a chief executive officer in a private company. His job is to run the local body efficiently. He would gain the position simply because he is aligned to a given political party and not because he is the most efficient, enterprising, and innovative person among the lot.

Second, if he comes from the political party that holds power at the national level, he is likely to be kept in the position even when there is evidence that he has been corrupt, inefficient, or irresponsible. By approving his low performance, the ruling party may give a wrong signal to those who hold power at the local levels. That is, so long as you play the game according to the wishes of the national level leadership, your position is safe. You run the risk of losing your position only if you break away from the party leadership.

Third, if the chairman comes from an opposition political party, it is likely, as it has happened on numerous occasions in Sri Lanka, that he would be subject to persecution by the ruling political party. There had been many occasions in Sri Lanka where the local bodies run by the opposition being disbanded or chairman being removed by the central government’s minister in charge of local authorities.

This uncertainty cast on the local body, or its chairman does not augur well for the efficient operation of the local authorities run by opposition political parties.

Local bodies to resolve local issues

Local bodies represent the grassroot level power of the people to decide on their destiny. This encompasses economic, social, and cultural aspirations of local people which are not fulfilled by national level policies. For instance, at the national level, the Government may be pursuing an FDI project to set up an oil refinery. This may not be relevant to a local body in, say, the Uva Province. That province may need projects for improving agricultural production, marketing of produce, postharvest processing, and educating the prospective youth to become successful agri-entrepreneurs. That is a local issue to be tackled by local people. 

This means that the heads of those local bodies should be enterprising, creative, and innovative people. If these qualities are not present in the person heading the local body, it will simply be a house of talking on political lines and not one with targeted action for the wellbeing of the people. It is an occasion of the failure of the local government system to fulfil the aspirations of the people it represents.

Need for enterprising heads

I recall the implementation of a loan scheme, funded by a donor agency, by the Rural Credit Department of the Central Bank in late 1990s for Sri Lanka’s municipal councils to set up a sustainable garbage disposal system. Municipal councils could borrow from the Central Bank, at a concessionary interest rate, long-term funds to establish composting factories and produce organic fertiliser for sale in the market. The donor agency had agreed to support the municipal councils with technical assistance to develop and operate such a facility at a profit. The cash inflow of the municipal council was sufficient not only to meet the operating costs but also to service the loan. Since the garbage disposal was a major issue in those municipal council areas, this loan scheme was a solution to that problem. 

Hence, it was a ‘win-win option’ for the municipal councils concerned. The project did not have the expected outreach since only one municipal council joined it. Only one mayor was enterprising enough to seize the opportunity and do good for the people of the area, while running a profitable business. It is learned that this project has now been improved with additional funding from UNESCAP-IRRC.7

Time to shed political differences

Thus, both NPP and the Opposition parties should shed political differences and unite, not to contest elections against each other as suggested by AKD, but to deliver prosperity to people in the local areas. They should select the best enterprising, creative, and innovative person as the mayor or the chairman of the local body, since running a local body with its own distinctive vision and mission based on local requirements requires a competent CEO to head it. The selection based on political affiliations will not deliver such a competent person as its head. If a member is competent, has a proven track record for delivering what he promises, and can command recognition of people around, he should be appointed as the head of the local body irrespective of whether he comes from NPP or from an Opposition party. 

He should be given full support by all to fulfil his targets. If he fails, like in a private company, he should be replaced by a competent person to do the job. Local bodies are not for playing politics as in Parliament but for delivering prosperity to people concerned.

This is food for thought and action by NPP as well as by Opposition parties that are waging a war to capture power in the local bodies by resorting to various undemocratic schemes.

At the local levels what is needed is not the play of party politics, but a united attempt made by all at furthering the local development and promoting the wellbeing of the people

Footnotes:

1https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/AKD-warns-of-using-two-thirds-majority-to-amend-laws-if-mandate-is-challenged-or-disrupted/108-308904

2https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=108502

3https://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=108502

4https://manthri.lk/en/blog/posts/3x3-on-performance-of-governing-party-in-local-government-elections-2025

5A detailed analysis can be found at https://manthri.lk/si/BattleforBallotsLC2025

6Cordova, Abby and Espana-Najera, Annabella, 2021, Do Multi-Party Municipal Councils Improve Local Governance? Municipal Councillors’ Opinions in El Salvador, Journal of Politics in Latin America, Vol 13(2), pp 192-218.

7https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Session2-2-ESCAP_sri%20lanka_0.pdf

(The writer, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, can be reached at [email protected].)