Rajiva Wijesinha

“ The country simply cannot afford more elections on the present system. Apart from the financial and moral cost, it also contributes to a decline in faith in our Parliamentary Democracy. Even though the nation recognizes that, in the last few years, we have got the governments the people want, we need to promote more positive perceptions both of politicians and the system. ”

“ He referred, as I do now, to the Preference System introduced by President Jayewardene when he realized that the Proportional Representation System he had introduced in 1978 created animosity against the party hierarchy. That was a pure list system, with those placed at the top of the list by the party getting preference over those lower down, when the number of seats to which each party was entitled in any district had been decided. ”

“ All this requires resources on a scale previously unknown in Sri Lankan elections. It also requires manpower, and we know that men engaged in electioneering are more volatile than most. So we have clashes, inter-party and intra-party, we have the accumulation of resources to overcome all potential rivals, and we have the development of obligations to those who assist on the large scale, obligations that have to be met after elections as well as before. ”