Why the Proportional Representation System Fails to Promote Minority Interests?

https://doi.org/10.22146/pcd.25722

Minna Thaheer(1*)

(1) University of Colombo
(*) Corresponding Author

Abstract


Proportional representation (PR) is favoured as the most suitable form of electoral system for multi-ethnic societes because it allows every vote to be counted. It, therefore, provides a strong incentive for minority parties and other political groups to promote their political articulations. This article examines the PR system in contemporary Sri Lankan politics. It argues that the executive presidential system has negated the efficacy of the PR system in promoting minority parties and has had disastrous consequences in their political fortunes. The PR system has enabled Muslim communities to elect Muslim representatives from their own province. Spesifically, this article emphasizes the dynamics of the political fortunes of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which seeks to give a voice to the minority Muslim communities concentrated in the Eastern Province.

Full Text:

PDF


References

Constitution of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, 1988. ERS, Electoral Reform Society, Newsletter http://www.electoralreform.org.uk/article.php?id=113.

Farook, Latheef (2009) Nobody’s People: The Forgotten Plight of Sri Lanka’s Muslims, Colombo: South Asia News Agency.

Edrisinha, Rohan, and Welikala, Asanga (2008) The Electoral Reform Debate in Sri Lanka, Colombo: Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Hassan Ali, M.T. (2010), Writer’s, interview with the General Secretary of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Colombo, October.

Horowitz, Donald L. (1991) A Democratic South Africa? Constitutional Engineering in a Divided Society, Berkeley: University of California Press.

Horowitz, Donald L. (1985) Ethnic Groups in Conflict, London: University of California Press.

Jeyaraj, D.B.S.http://federalidea.com/focus/archives/252 Kariyappar, Nizam (2010) Interview with the Deputy Leader’, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Colombo Sri Lanka, October.

Keeler, John T. S., and Martin A. Schain (1997) ‘Institutions, Political Poker, and Regime Evolution in France’, In Kurt von Mettenheim (ed.), Presidential Institutions and Democratic Politics: Comparing Regional and National Contexts, pp. 84- 105, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Lijphart, Arend (1984) Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries, New Haven: Yale University Press.

Lijphart, Arend (1995) ‘Multiethnic Democracy’, In Seymour Martin Lipset, et al., (eds.), The Encyclopedia of Democracy, pp. 853-65. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.

Lijphart, Arend (1999) ‘Power- Sharing and Group Autonomy in the 1990 and the 21st Century’, San Diego unpublished paper, University of California, December 9–11.

Rajakaruna, Sobitha (2010) Changing Party Allegiance and Termination of Parliamentary Mandate; Analysis if Checks and Balances in Expulsion of MPs in Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka, Pannipitiya: Stamford Lake Publications.

Spence, Catherine Helen (1861) A Plea for Pure Democracy, (booklet) helped the early formation of a proportional representation group called the ‘Effective Voting League of South Australia’.

Strom, Kaare (1990) Minority Government and Majority Rule, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Sunday Times (2010) ‘Major Constitutional Changes Next Week’, Opinion Column, Colombo 2, Sri Lanka: Wijeya Newspaper Pvt Ltd, August 20.

Uyangoda, Jayadeva (2010) ‘It was Election Time: What Do the Two Elections Say?’, in Polity, Colombo: Social Scientists Association, Vol.5, No;3 & 4.

Wilson, A., Jeyaratnam (1980) The Gaullist System in Asia, The Constitution of Sri Lanka (1978), London: The Macmillan Press Ltd.



DOI: https://doi.org/10.22146/pcd.25722

Article Metrics

Abstract views : 2424 | views : 2515

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2017 Power, Conflict and Democracy Journal

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

web analytics View My Stats

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

       

 

 

                                © Faculty of Social and Political Sciences Gadjah Mada University Jl. Sosio-Yustisia Bulaksumur Yogyakarta 55281
                                                     Telp (0274) 563362 Ext. 150; +62 811 2515 863 - email: pcd@ugm.ac.id