POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Migrant Workers Due to Get Right to Vote

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Oct 29 2001 (IPS) - Close to a million Sri Lankan migrant workers may finally get the chance to vote at a domestic election, after a local non-governmental agency succeeded this month in convincing the state’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) that voting is a right of every citizen — wherever he or she is.

After hearing representations from the Migrant Services Centre (MRC), the commission decided in a landmark move on Oct. 18 to recommend to the government and the elections commissioner that Sri Lankans working overseas be allowed to vote at a election at home.

This is however unlikely to happen before the Dec. 5 national election.

“Yes, we have agreed to make a recommendation to the government on the right of migrant workers to vote,” said Faiz Musthapa, HRC chairman. He said the commission would recommend amending the election law and also suggest ways on how migrant workers could vote. “We are in the process of doing this. This would apply to migrant workers only, not those who reside abroad.”

Meanwhile, the Action Network of Migrant Workers (ACTFORM), a coalition of 25 local groups working on or concerned with the issue of migrant workers, made a fresh appeal on Oct. 24 to the elections commissioner to consider these rights.

“We call upon you to please look into this anomaly as a matter of priority once the current parliamentary elections are over,” it said in a letter to elections chief Dayananda Dissanayake.

The Colombo-based MRC, affiliated to the National Workers Congress working on behalf of workers for more than 50 years, has been urging voting rights for migrant workers for the past two years.

They made appeals to the elections commissioner in the run-up to the presidential and general elections in 1999 and 2000 respectively, and even made a similar plea at the referendum that was scheduled for August but later postponed indefinitely.

“The election commissioner was helpless. So we made an appeal to the HRC on the grounds that they have the powers to intervene on behalf of migrant workers and grant their right to vote,” said David Soysa, executive director at the MRC.

More than 800,000 Sri Lankans, according to official figures, have gone in search of work to the Middle East and mostly Asian countries in the past two decades for work. The MRC, however, puts the number of Sri Lankan migrant workers at close to a million. More than 70 percent of migrant workers are women.

They pour back billions of Sri Lankan rupees into the economy each year.

According to government estimates, remittances from migrant workers are expected to top 100 billion rupees (1.1 billion U.S. dollars), up from 80 billion rupees (874 million dollars) in 2000. More than half of the annual amount of remittances, or 55 billion rupees, comes from the Middle East alone

The MRC’s call was taken up by the HRC on six occasions before the latter arrived at the Oct. 18 decision, which however is too late for implementation before the December poll.

“At least if the HRC makes the recommendation it can be implemented for any other polls after the latest one,” Soysa said, adding that MRC had proposed to the commission that the absentee or postal voting system to be also extended to migrant workers, a facility now enjoyed by government workers.

Another proposal is for polling booths to be set up in at embassies for overseas Sri Lankans to cast their vote during an election. “Like any other sector, migrant workers should also allowed to place their grievances like abuse and exploitation before parliament and hold their MPs responsible for a violation of their rights,” Soysa said.

In its appeal, ACTFORM said that the majority of Sri Lankan migrants are registered voters here but don’t get a chance to cast their ballot. “It is obvious that the votes of migrant workers will make a significant difference in the polling and results of elections. The significant vote bank will also enable migrant workers to lobby for favourable policies in relation to their status and have their voices heard,” the statement said.

The statement by ACTFORM coordinator Viola Perera cited concern that the unused votes of migrant workers could be abused for purposes of impersonation.

She said these were all potential considerations for a review and change of election laws and the implementation of mechanisms to enable migrant workers to exercise their franchise.

Sri Lankan elections during the past few decades have been dogged by impersonation, vote rigging and intimidation of voters. The presence of thousands of local monitors and a handful of foreign observers at the polls has failed to deter such malpractices.

At present, countries like Canada, Australia and Britain have provisions for their overseas residents and migrant workers to vote. The Philippines, the world’s second largest exporter of human labour, has yet to finalise its own law allowing some 7 million migrant workers to vote in elections at home.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Migrant Workers Due to Get Right to Vote

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Oct 29 2001 (IPS) - Close to a million Sri Lankan migrant workers may finally get the chance to vote at a domestic election, after a local non-governmental agency succeeded this month in convincing the state’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) that voting is a right of every citizen — wherever he or she is.
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