Fifty Cents For Your Vote

Cash Strapped UNP Counts Every Cent

By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema

Election time in Sri Lanka is a time of wonder. Every new day brings forth extraordinary announcements, proclamations and promises. The latest piece of astonishing news concerns the value of a vote cast.

Can you really put a price on democracy? On the invaluable ballot that is the basis of democracy — apparently you can. And a cash-strapped political party (obviously not the UPFA) has asked that the Elections Department reimburse the party in cash for the votes it polled in the last general election.

Legislation in Sri Lanka does include the provision that a political party can request cash for each vote it receives during a general election. This applies if the party is going to contest a fresh election under the same party name and symbol as at the last election.

The governing UPFA and the UNP are now entitled to ask the Elections Department to pay them in cash for the votes they polled at the 2004 general election. However, the JVP cannot apply for this facility as the party contested the 2004 general election in alliance with the UPFA and is currently planning to contest the election under a new alliance.

Consultant to the Elections Department, Kulatunge said the facility of claiming cash for votes received was applicable only to political parties. “Political parties contesting the current general election which had contested under the same party and symbol at the last general election can apply for the facility.”

Kulatunge went on to say that a sum of 50 cents would be paid for each vote received by a political party at the last general election.

The UPFA received 4,223,970 votes at the 2004 general election while the UNP polled 3,504,200 votes.

This year the UNP has decided to ask for its share of the funds and the party secretary has already written a letter of request to the Elections Commissioner.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake confirmed that he had requested this money from the Elections Department.

This is the first time a party has requested money for votes polled at an election.

Attanayake said the party was entitled to receive a little over Rs. 2 million for the votes received at the 2004 general election.

“The money will be used for party activities as it is in the midst of an election campaign,” he said.

He added however that the amount the UNP was to receive was not sufficient to maintain the party headquarters even for two months. (Which means of course that Sri Kotha costs the boys in green over 12 million rupees a year — maybe they need cheaper premises.)

When asked as to when the UNP was to receive the monies from the Elections Department, Attanayake said he had not yet been given a date.

The governing UPFA has not decided to cash in on the offer.

Asked if the UPFA would also now be demanding its share of the electoral loot, UPFA General Secretary, Minister Susil Premajayantha said the party had never applied for the facility to receive cash for votes.
“There is no plan to apply for it this time either,” he said.

Be that as it may, it is interesting and slightly depressing to note that apart from the fact that elections are held with the tax payers’ money, the public also has to pay yet more for each vote cast. Worst of all is the feeling that a vote in Sri Lanka is worth only 50 cents.

All of which begs the age old Sri Lankan question – why oh why do we bother voting at all?