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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rapa" data-source="post: 555015" data-attributes="member: 212">6. legislature The parliament is the supreme legislative body. Members of the parliament will be elected through an election to be held for the Grama Sabha as explained below. Local Councils will exercise limited legislative power over the subjects in the Local Council List and Concurrent List in the Constitution subject to the parliamentary powers.  6.1 Grama Sabha There shall be a Grama Sabha for every Grama Niladhari Division (GND). The GND shall be further divided to wards by the National Delimitation Commission considering extent, population and other geographical and demographical factors. A representative from each ward will be elected to the Grama Sabha. Members of the Grama Sabha will elect a chairperson and a deputy chairperson.  6.2  Local Councils (Pradeshiya Sabha and Municipal Councils)  Local Councils will consist of Pradeshiya Sabha and Municipal Councils. Boundaries of Pradeshiya Sabha and Municipal Councils will be re-demarcated and 200 local councils will be established. Urban Councils shall be absorbed into Pradeshiya Sabhas or converted to Municipal Councils considering extent, population and revenue. The existing boundaries of pradeshiya sabha should be redefined considering extent, population, resources and other geographical and demographical factors. Membership of a Local Council is formed by chairpersons of Grama Sabhas situated within the limits of that Local Council. Members of the Local Council shall elect a chairperson and a deputy chairperson for the Local Council. The Local Council can exercise limited legislative power over the subjects available in the Concurrent List and Local Council List of the Constitution.  6.3 Parliament The Parliament shall consist of 270 members.  The composition of the parliament shall be as follows.  Chairpersons of Local Councils                        200  National List                                                   40 Professional and Trade Union representation    22  Minor party representation                             05  Minority community representation                 03                                                                                  270 (i) Chairpersons of Local Councils All chairpersons of Local Councils will automatically be members of the parliament. Although they have been elected by members of the councils by simple majority vote, a 75% majority will be required to remove them. In this manner, if electors are not satisfied with the conduct or performance of their parliamentarian, they can at anytime replace their parliamentary representative without waiting for the next election. Further, the Local Council can temporally appoint a person in lieu of the chairperson if he is unable to perform his duties. (ii) National List There are 40 seats allocated for appointments from the national lists of political parties. These seats will be allocated among the political parties and independent groups based on number of votes polled by them countrywide at Grama Sabha elections. The appointing authority can recall them with or without a reason after completion of one year in the parliament. There should be minimum educational qualifications for National List members to further enhance professional representation in the parliament. (iii) Professional and Trade Union representation There will be 5 parliamentary seats allocated for the largest trade unions. There will be another 17 seats allocated for professional bodies whose opinion is crucial in policy making and implementation. Organizations of lawyers, medical practitioners, Accountants, Engineers, Economists, University Teachers University students, farmers, planters and business community are such important professional bodies. This is a conceptual document and criteria for selection of trade unions and professional organizations are subject to discussion and review.  (iv) Minor party representation  Since there are 245 seats allocated for political parties and independent groups, any group which has received more than 0.4% of the total votes is entitled to at least one seat in the parliament. Unfortunately, such genuine proportionate representation always causes unstable governments. Nevertheless, these significant alternative views should also be considered at the highest decision making body. Hence, it is proposed to allocate one seat each to political groups who polled more than 1% of total votes at the Grama Sabha elections and failed to secure a parliamentary seat, with a ceiling of five seats. If the qualified political groups are less than five in number, the balance seats can be filled from the national lists. (v)  Minority community representation It is observed that several significant ethnic minority communities have lost their representation in parliament in the recent past. Burgers and Malays are such two communities. Although the Veddah community has been living in this country for more than 2,500 years according to historical evidence, they never had a representation in any legislative council. Therefore, it is proposed to allocate one seat each to the Malay, Burger and Veddah communities to be appointed by the Prime Minister elect. 7.  JUDICIARY The JHU is of the view that there should be equilibrium in all organs of the State, namely, executive, legislature and judiciary. Hence we firmly stand for independence of the judiciary and totally reject the concept of establishing a Constitutional Court consists of non judge members which will dilute the supremacy of the Supreme Court. 8. advantages of the proposed structure for the state  (i)             The proposed electoral system ensures clear simple majority in the parliament for the winning party. Hence, there will be a stable government. Nevertheless, it is near impossible for the winning party to obtain more than 75% of the seats which forms the special majority due to features such as national list, professional representation and minor party representation. Hence, this system prevents governments from acting in arbitrary manner.  (ii)             Since there are only two elections, namely presidential and Grama Sabha, a lot of public funds, time and human lives can be saved. (iii)             People have the opportunity to change their representatives in the parliament without waiting for the next elections. Therefore, actions of the people representatives will reflect the will of the people.   (iv)            Minority parties have the opportunity to climb the political ladder up to the parliament by securing a victory in a small Grama Sabha ward.   (v)             Since a minister's electorate is very small and limited to a Grama Sabha ward, he can evenly distribute resources available in the ministry without favouring one district.  (vi)             Since the Ministers are members of Local Councils and Grama Sabha in addition to parliament, there will be vertical integration of development activities.  (vii)            Since Presidential election and Grama Sabha election will be held simultaneously, hostile relationships between the president and the cabinet ministers can be avoided.   (viii)            Since the electorates for representatives are very small, cost of an election campaign will be affordable to the candidates and as a result politicians' dependency on wealthy sections of the population will be drastically reduced, thereby minimizing corruption.  (ix)             People can exercise power at the grass root level creating a participatory democracy.  (x)             This system avoids creating larger units which can hinder people's access to representatives.  (xi)             Public representatives at higher levels will be minimized and thereby the burden on public coffers in terms of maintenance of institutions and their members will be eased.  (xii)             Aspiration of minority communities to secure control of people representative councils can easily be met in Grama Sabha and Local Council levels than in district or provincial units.</blockquote>

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