Month: November 2024

Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million voters head to the polls again on Thursday to vote in snap parliamentary elections, barely seven weeks after choosing a new president.

More than 8,800 candidates are in the fray in an election marked by a low-key campaign.

Voting begins at 07:00 local time (01:30 GMT) and ends until 16:00 (10.30 GMT). Counting will start in the evening and results are expected on Friday.

Out of 225 seats in the parliament, 196 MPs will be directly elected. The rest would be nominated by political parties based on the percentage of votes they get in what is known as proportional representation.

“Over 8,800 candidates belonging to 49 political parties and 284 independent groups are contesting the elections but only around 1,000 candidates have actively campaigned,” Rohana Hettiarachchi, executive director of poll monitoring group People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, told the BBC.

High inflation, food and fuel shortages precipitated a political crisis in 2022 which led to the ousting of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe managed to negotiate a bailout package worth $3bn with the International Monetary Fund – but many Sri Lankans continue to feel economic hardship.

“We are still stuck with the problems we faced before. We still don’t have financial help even to fulfil our daily needs,” 26-year-old garment factory worker Manjula Devi, who works in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone near Colombo, told the BBC.

The number of people living below the poverty line in Sri Lanka has risen to 25.9% in the past four years. The World Bank expects the economy to grow by only 2.2% in 2024.

“Sri Lanka has still not recovered from the 2022 economic crisis, even with the IMF bailout,” Raisa Wickrematunge, deputy editor of Himal Southasian magazine, told the BBC.

“I am typing this from the Sri Jayawardenapura general hospital, a public hospital which is switching off its lights and fans to try to bring down skyrocketing electricity costs.”

In 2022, the country defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time, forcing it to seek debt restructuring deals.

Observers expect a multi-cornered contest in the general election, which may ultimately dent the chances of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, enacting ambitious reforms.

“Analysts predict he may struggle to get two-thirds and may have to rely on coalitions. This would make his task much more difficult,” says Raisa Wickrematunge.

The election campaign has been largely peaceful with no reports of poll-related deaths or large scale misuse of government resources.

“Violence is negligible compared to previous elections. It will be peaceful elections,” hopes Rohana Hettiarachchie.

First Minister John Swinney has said the SNP is yet to make a decision on whether its politicians can hold seats at both the Scottish and UK parliaments.

It comes after the party’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, announced his ambition to stand in the 2026 Holyrood election.

Another sitting MP, Stephen Gethins, has submitted an application to be selected as a candidate – though he has not stated an intention to hold two seats at once.

Swinney also said former health secretary Michael Matheson should be allowed to “get on with the rest of his life” after it was reported he had put his name forward.

Dave Doogan, MP for Angus and Perthshire Glens, told BBC News he is considering running for Holyrood and would remain an MP at Westminster if elected.

Applications to stand as an SNP candidate in 2026 closed on Monday, though the formal selection process will not start until next year.

Flynn drew criticism from colleagues after announcing he hoped to win the SNP nomination for the Aberdeen South and North Kincardine seat, currently held by Audrey Nicoll.

The SNP, including Flynn, was highly critical of former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross for holding what is known as a dual mandate.

Swinney, who held seats at both Westminster and Holyrood between 1999 and 2001, told BBC Scotland News: “We’ve had times in the past when we’ve had dual mandates – I had a dual mandate myself for two years in the early days of devolution.

“The party has got to come to its conclusions about these particular issues and it will do in the fullness of time.”

Former SNP minister George Adam said it was “wrong” for SNP MPs to try to also sit at Holyrood, adding he was “disappointed” with how Flynn had handled his decision to challenge Nicoll.

The Paisley MSP noted his party had spent years “attacking others” for having dual mandates.

He told Politics Scotland SNP politicians were “all meant to be very loyal”, adding “let’s just remember that when we go forward”.

Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said Flynn would be a “brilliant asset” to the Scottish Parliament.

Last year she criticised Ross, who was an MP, MSP and professional football referee at the time, branding him “three jobs”.

Responding to Flynn’s announcement, she added: “The beauty of democracy is that it ultimately will be a decision for the local electorate as to who represents them, both within the party and within the public.

“Now, most recently, that was put to the test with Douglas Ross, he wasn’t returned as the MP, and therefore it proves the point that democracy works.”

Gethins, who represents Arbroath and Broughty Ferry, told the Courier newspaper he had submitted an application to keep his vetting papers “up to date” and noted there were no local vacancies for SNP candidates.

The MP told the Courier he would like to return at “some point” to Holyrood, where he formerly worked as a government adviser. However, he said his priority was representing his constituents at the UK parliament.

Dave Doogan confirmed that he has submitted for SNP vetting in advance of the 2026 election. He did not confirm that he would stand, saying it was “not a statement of intent” but would mean running remained a possibility.

Doogan said that if he did stand for Holyrood, and was elected, then it would be “reasonable” for him to serve as both an MP and an MSP consecutively.

The SNP MP told Politics Scotland “it is possible to do both jobs” if the “bulk” of constituents being represented were the same in both parliaments.

BBC Scotland News understands that SNP Westminster colleagues Pete Wishart Brendan O’Hara, Kirsty Blackman, Chris Law and Graham Leadbitter have not put their names forward for selection.

Swinney described Matheson – who resigned from the cabinet after he admitted misleading parliament about how an £11,000 data roaming bill was racked up on his work iPad – as a “faithful servant” to his constituents.

The Times and Herald reported the Falkirk West MSP had submitted an application to stand again in the constituency.

Swinney said Matheson had made a “mistake” and that he had accepted his punishment – a record ban from parliament.

He added: “I think it’s important that we accept those errors, accept the remedies that were put in place, and allow Michael to get on with the rest of his life”.

Matheson has been asked to comment.

Former first ministers Nicola Sturgeon and Humza Yousaf are among the other SNP politicians understood to have submitted candidacy applications – though both are yet to decide on whether to stand for re-election.

Ahead of the 2021 election, the SNP changed internal rules to require MPs to resign their seat at Westminster to fight for selection to Holyrood.

Flynn told the Press and Journal he understood that rule to be “election specific”.

He told BBC Scotland News he took “no pleasure” from potentially competing with Nicoll for selection but that it was for members to decide an outcome.

Nicoll said the selection process was still at an early stage and that Flynn was within his rights to stand for selection.

SNP MSP Emma Roddick called for the party’s Westminster leader to rethink his ambition to hold two seats seats.

The Highlands and Islands representative said she could not imagine “being a good MSP” while spending “half” her time in London.

One former SNP MP told BBC Scotland News: “I’m not sure being seen to do Audrey Nicoll out of her job so that he can have two jobs is a smart pitch.”

Another senior party figure described Flynn’s move as “naked ambition”.

MPs have backed plans to get rid of all hereditary peers from the House of Lords.

A bill making its way through Parliament would abolish the 92 seats reserved for peers who inherit their titles through their families.

MPs voted for the government proposals by 435 votes to 73. The bill will now go to the Lords, where it is expected to face tough opposition.

The Conservatives opposed the plans, with shadow Cabinet Office minister Alex Burghart claiming the government was “seeking to remove established scrutineers in order to replace them with Labour appointees”.

But during a debate in the Commons, some MPs also called for the government to go further.

Conservative Sir Gavin Williamson put forward proposals for Church of England bishops to be removed from the Lords but these were rejected by MPs.

He argued it was “fundamentally unfair” for a block of clerics to “have a right and a say over our legislation”.

“For me, as someone who is an Anglican, I cannot see why I have a greater right for greater representation than my children who are Catholics,” he said.

He added that the 26 bishops in the Lords only come from England and are “probably not reflective of today’s world”.

SNP MP Pete Wishart said the unelected House of Lords should be abolished completely, adding that “if you represent the people, you should be voted by the people”.

He told the Commons the government’s proposals were “pathetic” and “should have been done centuries ago”.

As well as promising to bring about “immediate modernisation” to the Lords by abolishing hereditary peers, Labour’s general election manifesto pledged to introduce a mandatory retirement age of 80 for members of the upper house.

It also said the party was committed to replacing the House of Lords with “an alternative second chamber that is more representative of the regions and nations”.

But these changes are not included in the bill and the government has not set out a timeline for when they will be delivered.

Defending the government’s approach, Cabinet Office minister Ellie Reeves said previous attempts to reform the Lords “all in one go” had failed and the government wanted to see “immediate reform”.

She added that the government would then consult on how to deliver its other manifesto commitments on the House of Lords.

Reeves said the government “values the good work done by hereditary peers” but the bill was “a matter of principle”.

“In the 21st Century it cannot be right for there to be places in our legislature reserved for those born into certain families,” she told the Commons.

Meanwhile, peers were also taking part in their own debate on the issue of Lords reform.

Conservative peer Lord True was among those to criticise the government’s plans.

The shadow leader of the House of Lords argued the aim of the bill was “partisan” removing “88 peers who do not align themselves with Labour and four who do”.

He also said the move would cause “great hurt”.

“The execution will have to be done at close quarters, brushing shoulders in the lobbies as we go to vote for the removal of much-respected colleagues.”

Fellow Conservative peer and former cabinet minister Lord Forsyth of Drumlean accused Labour of “a disgraceful piece of political gerrymandering” aimed at “weakening the scrutiny” of the government.

“If the party opposite continues with this act of constitutional vandalism they ain’t seen nothing yet,” he warned.

The job of the House of Lords is to scrutinise the work of government and recommend changes to proposed legislation.

Most peers are appointed by the monarch on the prime minister’s advice.

The majority of hereditary peers were abolished in 1999 under the last Labour government, leaving only 92 in a compromise deal with the Conservatives.