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Choosing the Prime Minister in a Parliamentary System

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Choosing the Prime Minister in a Parliamentary System RESHAPING THE EXECUTIVE: CHOOSING THE PRIME MINISTER IN A PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform No 2, June 2016 Michael Mendis and Asanga Welikala Centre for Policy Alternatives | www.cpalanka.org CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform | No. 1, June 2016 About the Author: Dr Asanga Welikala is Lecturer in Public Law at tHe ScHool of Law, University of EdinburgH, and tHe Associate Director of tHe EdinburgH Centre for Constitutional Law. He is Research Associate of the Institute of CommonwealtH Studies, University of London, and ResearcH Fellow of tHe Centre for Policy Alternatives. MicHael Mendis is a researcHer at tHe Centre for Policy Alternatives. He Has a bacHelor’s degree in law from tHe University of Colombo. The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) was formed in the firm belief that there is an urgent need to strengthen institution- and capacity-building for good governance and conflict transformation in Sri Lanka and that non-partisan civil society groups Have an important and constructive contribution to make to tHis process. THe primary role envisaged for tHe Centre in the field of public policy is a pro-active and interventionary one, aimed at tHe dissemination and advocacy of policy alternatives for non-violent conflict resolution and democratic governance. Accordingly, tHe work of tHe Centre involves a major researcH component tHrougH wHicH tHe policy alternatives advocated are identified and developed. This Working Paper is available for free download from www.constitutionalreforms.org. If cited or quoted, reference sHould be made to tHe Centre for Policy Alternatives, the name(s) of the author(s), the title and the number of the Working Paper. © Centre for Policy Alternatives and the author(s) Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) | 2016 2 CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform | No. 1, June 2016 Introduction In tHe first pHase of reforms following tHe 2015 presidential election, tHe NineteentH Amendment to tHe Constitution effected cHanges to tHe executive presidency tHat changed the nature of tHe 1978 Constitution from a ‘president-parliamentary’ system into a ‘premier-presidential’ system. 1 THe second pHase of reforms now being undertaken in 2016 contemplates tHe departure from tHe semi-presidential form of government altogetHer, and the restoration of a fully-fledged parliamentary system. Solemn promises to abolisH tHe executive presidency Have repeatedly been made at tHe HigHest levels of tHe government since January 2015. In view of tHe experience of presidentialism – such that the Gaullist experiment2 became more a Bonapartist ordeal3 – the people of Sri Lanka Have consistently voted for presidential candidates who proposed abolition from 1994 onwards. 4 THe recent report of tHe Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform also notes “tHe overwHelming recommendation tHat tHe country adopts a Parliamentary Cabinet system of government.”5 WitHin tHe deliberations of tHe Constitutional Assembly process on tHe form of tHe future parliamentary system, a proposal currently under consideration is for tHe introduction of a directly elected prime minister. The thinking underlying the proposal appears to be tHreefold: (a) tHat it would promote tHe stability of government in tHe context of the proposed Multi-Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system whicH is not expected to yield overly-large governmental majorities; (b) tHat tHe people Have been accustomed to tHe direct election of tHeir cHief executive under the 1978 Constitution and tHat it would be undemocratic to take tHis rigHt away; and (c) tHat tHe election of the chief executive on the basis of the entire country as one electorate would Have botH a unifying and a moderating effect on electoral politics in the context of a communally plural polity. AltHougH it Has been proposed as a solution for various problems in countries sucH as Japan,6 tHis unusual innovation witHin tHe parliamentary model Has only been actually put into practice in Israel, and then too, quickly abandoned as a failure (although 1 A. Galyan, ‘The Nineteenth Amendment in Comparative Context: Classifying the New Regime Type’ in A. Welikala (Ed.) (2016) The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution: Content and Context (Colombo: Centre for Policy Alternatives): Ch.12. 2 A.J. Wilson (1980) The Gaullist System in Asia: The Constitution of Sri Lanka (1978) (London: Macmillan). 3 R. Coomaraswamy, ‘Bonapartism and the Anglo-American Constitutional Tradition in Sri Lanka: Reassessing the 1978 Constitution’ in A. Welikala (Ed.) (2015) Reforming Sri Lankan Presidentialism: Provenance, Problems and Prospects (Colombo: Centre for Policy Alternatives): Ch.1. 4 For an analysis of this long-standing debate, see A. Welikala, ‘The Executive Presidency and the Sri Lankan State: Myths and Realities’, Groundviews, 20th January 2015: http://groundviews.org/2015/01/20/the-executive-presidency-and-the-sri-lankan-state-myths-and- realities/ 5 Public Representations Committee on Constitutional Reform, Report on Public Representations on Constitutional Reform, May 2016: 30, 34. 6 J. Rheuben, ‘A Presidential Prime Minister: Japan’s Direct Election Debate’ (2007) Journal of Japanese Law 24: 81-105 Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) | 2016 3 CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform | No. 1, June 2016 admittedly, in tHat experience tHis Had more to do with the failures of a peculiar electoral system tHan witH tHe principle of direct election per se).7 For Westminster model purists, it may seem as if tHe principle of direct election negates one of tHe most important strengtHs of tHe model: obviating presidential unilateralism tHrougH a collegial executive witHin wHicH tHe prime minister is only primus inter pares. For Sri Lankan reformists, it may also seem as if one of tHe main rationales for abolisHing presidentialism is being brought back in through the backdoor to instantiate a system of ‘presidential parliamentarism’.8 In tHis paper we closely scrutinise tHe main arguments for and against tHe principle of direct election of tHe prime minister. If subject to a series of institutional safeguards tHat we articulate, we tHink tHere may be defensible grounds for tHe innovation. However, there are also grave risks, including the exacerbation of the tendency to ‘elective dictatorsHip’9 (or at least executive dominance) to wHich tHe Westminster model is susceptible, and wHicH is even more pronounced in tHe relatively weak political cultures and legislative practices of ‘Eastminster’10 polities such as ours. Accordingly, our assessment concludes witH a preference for less radical institutional innovations tHan direct election tHat in our view would meet tHe objectives of stability and clarity, namely, tHe express pre-election nomination of prime ministerial candidates by political parties, and tHe consolidation of tHe prime minister’s autHority tHrougH an immediate post-election investiture vote. At tHe end of tHe paper, we provide a quick- reference comparison table and a textbox tHat summarise tHe institutional features of a directly elected PM model as well as our own preferred model. 1. Arguments Against a Directly Elected Prime Minister In this section we set out what we see as the virtues of conventional parliamentarism in contrast to both executive presidentialism and a directly elected prime minister. 1.1. The risk of authoritarianism The executive presidency Had tHe effect of transforming political campaigns into competitions of personal traits and cHarisma. THe impact of tHis transformation permeated even parliamentary elections, wHere many candidates for parliamentary office were seen to ride the ‘coattails’ of tHe cHarismatic incumbent. THis rendered tHe president’s office the political centre of gravity, with all other politicians falling in line under His command in order to gain and remain in power. It is likely that a directly elected prime minister could continue this tendency in Sri Lankan politics. A prime 7 See e.g., R.Y. Hazan, ‘The Unintended Consequences of Extemporaneous Electoral Reform: The 1999 Elections in Israel’ (2000) Representation 37(1): 39-47; R.Y. Hazan & A. Diskin, ‘The 1999 Knesset and Prime Ministerial Elections in Israel’ (2000) Electoral Studies 19: 615-646; P.Y. Medding, ‘From Government By Party to Government Despite Party’ (1999) Israel Affairs 6(2): 172-208. 8 See R.Y. Hazan, ‘Presidential Parliamentarism: Direct Popular Election of the Prime Minister, Israel’s New Electoral and Political System’ (1996) Electoral Studies 15(1): 21-37. 9 Lord Hailsham, ‘Elective Dictatorship’, The Richard Dimbleby Lecture, 21st October 1967, The Listener: 496-500. 10 H. Kumarasingham (2013) A Political Legacy of the British Empire: Power and the Parliamentary System in Post-Colonial India and Sri Lanka (London: I.B. Tauris). Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) | 2016 4 CPA Working Papers on Constitutional Reform | No. 1, June 2016 ministerial election will need to take place simultaneously witH general elections, wHicH could allow autHoritarian cHaracters in Sri Lankan politics not only to remain tHe only protagonists of the political arena, but also to continue devaluing the importance of consensus and compromise among representatives of a range of differing viewpoints, wHicH is a Hallmark of representative parliamentary democracy. 1.2. The risk of ethno-religious majoritarianism Extending the above line of thought, it is also noted that the executive presidency, being based on a HigHly majoritarian system of election, Has Had a profound
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