Local Democracy: The Reality of the Electoral System of Local Authorities in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This study critiques the reality of the overall nature, content and scope of the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act no 22 of 2012 and the subsequent amendments thereto, in light of the concept of local-level democracy. The quality of democracy at the initiative level depends not only on the strength and the coherence of the parties, and the party system but also on the quality of the elections themselves. Therefore, this article aims to analyse the extent to which the provisions of the Act and the system of election complies with the requirements of democracy. This research is conducted as a literature review based on secondary sources using an interpretative approach to support the arguments on theoretical and doctrinal concepts. Moreover, the author followed a qualitative approach to explain her stance in this regard. In order to address the research question, the author critically analyses the provisions of the relevant Acts and its application in reality, which are lacking or seems to be lacking in adherence to the concept of democracy. As a result, the author finds that the system experimented in the last local authorities election(2018) delineate the delinquency of tenaciousness to the said requirements to perpetuate a democratic society and therefore, comes up with a proposal on how to shape up the legislation to vouch for accountability at the local level of governance to enhance the local democracy.