The Sinhala meaning of the English word “referendum” in the Malalasekara dictionary is “referendum.” But in the common language of Sri Lanka, the simple meaning given to it is the game of lamp and pot. The reason why the term “referendum” is called the “game of lamps and pots” is rooted in Sri Lankan society because the symbols used in the first referendum held in this country the symbols used were lamp and pot.
In order to further maintain his unlimited power, which was the first referendum held in Sri Lanka, then President J. R. J’s constitutional knot struck by Jayawardene. In other words, it is a stab at the right to vote under the guise of the people’s constitution. Despite winning the presidential election to be held in October 1982, JR. Jayawardene realized the popular discontent that was rising against his rule. Therefore, he felt it was necessary for the Jayawardene administration to throw some sort of delay to postpone this election before August 1983, when the next general election was scheduled to be held.
JR’s constitution
Because this necessity was a constitutional provisions to postpone to the 78th constitution, J.R. called a referendum to extend the life of the existing parliament until August 04, 1989. Jayawardena took action. The referendum held on December 22, 1982 sought the will of the people to continue the existing parliament for another 06 years. There, the pro-party /parties had to vote in front of the lamp sign and the opposition parties in front of Kalegediya or a pot. In the end, 3,14,1223 voters had voted to extend the term of the Parliament and 2,60,5983 had voted against it, and thus the mandate was given to drag the parliament formed in 1977 until 1989.
1982 referendum
You may think that the 1982 referendum is suddenly being talked about for nothing. The history of the political world, which revolves like a wheel, will be recreated in a very surprising way. Four decades later, JR’s nephew, Ranil Sriyan Wickremesinghe, the eighth executive president of Sri Lanka, is preparing for a referendum in the same way that Junius Richard Jayawardene, the first executive president of Sri Lanka, held a referendum in 1982.
But there is a clear difference between Ranil’s poll and JR’s poll. That day JR’s referendum asked to extend the existing parliament for six years. JR’s nephew Ranil is going to ask the public opinion for a different matter. It is related to a constitutional amendment. The cat jumped out of Ranil’s bag about that in the discussion held with Samantha Power, the head of the US AID delegation who came to Sri Lanka recently.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, said Samantha that they will work with necessary political agreements to bring a new Anti-Terrorism Act and amend the electoral system, for which a period of 06 months has been given to all parties, and if this does not happen, they will consult the opinion of the country through a referendum he had told Power.
Ranil’s referendum
According to Ranil’s statement, it can be imagined that he is preparing to go to a referendum for constitutional amendments 19 and 22. The President may have taken this decision because the Supreme Court, which considered the petitions against 22, declared that certain clauses of those amendments should be passed by a referendum and by a majority in the Parliament.
However, it seems that the opposition is preparing themselves to take the referendum preparations of the President in the form of a litmus test. Speaking to the media, Tissa Attanayake, Member of Parliament of Samagi Jana Balavega said that the President is trying to go for electoral reforms when the people are unable to eat. Also, as an extension of that, the President is trying to go for a referendum to get the approval related to the constitutional amendment and the opposition is ready to accept that effort as a challenge.
litmus test
Accordingly, MP Tissa Attanayake challenges the President to hold a referendum if possible. The reason for that is that whatever the proposition of the referendum is, it is clear that the opposition wants to accept it as an indicator of public frustration against the government.
Ranil’s uncle JR’s this referendum which was held, and the country’s general election map was reduced to five years and thus tens of thousands of young people who were ready to use their first vote against the government at the age of 18 had to wait until they were 25 years old.
JVP and youth suppression
The Criminal Justice Commission brought by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government to quell the 1970 rebellion of J.V.P. Hundreds of thousands of young voters, who were rooting for them as members and as a party, were deeply disillusioned by JR’s arbitrary plebiscite, and the situation that was growing within them turned into a massive protest and created the 87-89 period of terror.
Unfortunate events that happened at that time where the extension of the parliamentary term through a referendum, and then Appapillai Amirthalingam, who was even the leader of the opposition in the parliament, and the MPs who represented the Dravida United Liberation Front lost their seats. Therefore, from 1983 to 1989, the North-Eastern Dravidian people lost their representation in the Parliament of Sri Lanka.
These are irreparable mistakes in history and thousands of lives have already been sacrificed on account of this. As the balance sheet of uncle’s referendum is like that, we have a little quibble about the referendum that our nephew is going to have. Because among the things that are going to be passed in a referendum are some clauses that the court has said are not in accordance with the existing constitution.
first need of referendum
It is not the first time that a referendum to be held on a constitutional amendment surfaced. Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike also made such an effort. That was in the year 2000. In the general election held in 2000, the United Front had won more seats. The number of seats they had with the National List seats was 107. The main opposition UNP also got 89 seats. Therefore, President Chandrika tried to protect her government by dividing the ministerial positions lavishly. Meanwhile, she immediately prepared to submit the a constitution package with a proposed new constitutional reorganizations to a referendum.
But the crisis of the government started with the removal of Rauf Hakeem from the post of minister. On or about July 11, 2001, the opposition proceeded to deliver a motion of no confidence signed by 115 MPs to the Speaker. Knowing that her defeat was certain, the President immediately prorogued the parliamentary session. Therefore, the package for a referendum was delayed .
Mangala Samaraweera and Lakshman Kadirgamar, who came forward to protect the government at this time, An agreement was reached with JVP to protect the government. That is the probationary government agreement with J.V.P. The first conditions brought forward were the cancellation of the proposed referendum and the reduction of the cabinet from over 40 to 20. There was nothing else that could be done, so the President agreed to it. But Sarath Amunugama, Wijepala Mendis and V.J.M. joined to strengthen Chandrika’s hands from UNP.
Reduced cabinet
When the cabinet was reduced. She could not ask Lokubandara to resign as minister. The old members of the party were against it and the President was in a great embarrassment. In the end, Mangala Samaraweera gave up his ministerial position willingly. Following him, Culture Minister T.B. Ekanayake also left the post.
In the end, the JVP managed to limit the 40 ministers to 23. Didn’t agree with that either. Unable to bear the pressure, the President removed Wijepala Mendis as the Minister of Culture and reduced the cabinet to 20. Accordingly, on September 5, 2001, the government entered into a probation agreement with the JVP. – The Cabinet of the United Front Government was sworn in on September 14, 2001 and then Parliament was convened.
But the collapse of the government could not be stopped. On October 8, 2001, S.B. Dissanayake was removed and replaced by Maithripala Sirisena. On October 9th, Bandula Gunawardena, Member of Parliament of the Podhu Peramuna, sat in the opposition. The next day, on October 10, 2001, S.B. Dissanayake, Professor G.L. The 08 Podu Peramuna MPs namely Piris, Mahinda Wijesekera, Wijepala Mendis, Bandula Parakrama Gunawardena, Ediriweera Premaratne, Jayasundara Wijekon and Ananda Munasinghe joined the opposition.
Meanwhile, Arumugam Thondaman, the leader of Ceylon Workers’ Congress, who was a strong pillar of the government, left the government. On October 12, MPs Lakshman Kiriella and Sarath Munasinghe left the government and joined the opposition. Meanwhile, on October 16, Speaker Anura Bandaranaike left the United National Party and joined the United United Front.
In this situation, the Parliament was dissolved by the President as there was not enough votes in the Parliament to continue the government.
Aruna Laxman Fernando