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Local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
is the third and lowest level of government in
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
 – after the
central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...
and
provincial councils A province is a geographic region within Gaelic games, consisting of several County (Gaelic games), counties of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the historic four provinces of Ireland as they were set in 1610. Provin ...
. The local government bodies are collectively known as local authorities. They are responsible for providing a variety of local public services including roads, sanitation, drains, housing, libraries, public parks and recreational facilities. Local authorities are divided into three different groups: municipal councils, urban councils and divisional councils (pradeshiya sabha or pradesha sabhai). As of November 2017 there were 341 local authorities (24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 276 divisional councils). All local authorities are elected using the
mixed electoral system A mixed electoral system or mixed-member electoral system combines methods of majoritarian representation, majoritarian and proportional representation (PR). The majoritarian component is usually first-past-the-post voting (FPTP/SMP), whereas the ...
.


History

Sri Lanka has a long history of local government. According to the Mahavamsa the earliest
Sinhalese Sinhala may refer to: * Something of or related to the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka * Sinhalese people * Sinhala language, one of the three official languages used in Sri Lanka * Sinhala script, a writing system for the Sinhala language ** Sinha ...
settlements, dating to the 4th century BC, were village based. These villages were used by the Sinhalese kings as a unit of administration. Each village was independently administered. Village Councils (Gam Sabhas) administered local affairs, addressed people's grievances and settled minor disputes. The village based administration continued for centuries in one form or the other.


Colonial rule

In 1818 the Village Councils were abolished by the British rulers of
Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. The Colebrooke-Cameron Commission of 1833 recommended that some form of village committee system should be introduced. The ''Paddy Lands and Irrigation Ordinance No. 9 of 1856'' re-introduced the Village Councils to oversee agriculture and irrigation. The Village Councils were chaired by the British appointed Government Agent or Assistant Government Agent who in turn appointed the other members of the Village Councils. Local government saw a number of developments the late 19th century. The ''Road Committees Act No 10 of 1861'' created Provincial Road Committees and District Road Committees to administer the country’s public roads. The committees consisted of government officials, appointed members and elected members. The Road Committees functioned between 1861 and 1951 when their functions were transferred to the Public Works Department. The ''Municipal Council Ordinance No. 17 of 1865'' transferred responsibility for some local administration to local residents. The Municipal Councils consisted of elected and appointed members. Under the ordinance Municipal Councils were created for
Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...
and
Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...
. Reforms enacted in 1931 resulted in all members of Municipal Councils being elected. The ''Village Communities Ordinance No. 26 of 1871'' introduced Village Committees for local administration and Rural Courts for judicial administration. The ordinance allowed the
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
and the Legislative Council to create a Village Committee at the request of local residents. The Government Agent chaired the Village Committee and other members were appointed. The Village Committees were similar to the Village Councils. Village Committees worked well and in 1938 reforms were carried allowing for members to be elected, the chairman being elected by other members, the creation of wards and the exclusion of local chiefs from being members. Village Committees could now collect land tax and provide local services such as roads, water supply, common amenities and public health. The ''Sanitary Boards Ordinance No. 18 of 1892'' created bodies to provide a number of public health services such as electricity, drainage, public conveniences, markets, dairies, laundries and water supply in small towns. The Sanitary Boards consisted of officials appointed by the Governor. The ''Local Boards Ordinance No. 13 of 1898'' created Local Health and Sanitation Boards for larger towns. Their composition and powers were similar to the Sanitary Boards. The Local Health and Sanitation Boards started functioning on 1 September 1899. The ''Local Government Ordinance No. 11 of 1920'' created three types of local authorities: Urban District Councils (UDC), Rural District Councils and General Councils. Previous local authorities had been mostly appointed but these new authorities were elected. Two UDCs were created in 1922 and a further six in 1923. The
Donoughmore Commission The Donoughmore Commission (DC) was responsible for the creation of the Donoughmore Constitution in effect between 1931–47 in Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka). In 1931 there were approximately 12% Ceylonese Tamils, 12% Indian Tamils (migrant an ...
made a number of recommendations in relation to local government including that all members of local authorities be elected, establishment of new authorities, reorganisation of existing authorities and the creation of the Department of Local Government. The ''Urban Councils Ordinance No. 61 of 1939'' created Urban Councils in the largest towns in the country. 27 Urban Councils created. The ''Town Councils Ordinance No. 3 of 1946'' created Town Councils for small towns. 24 Town Councils were created by abolishing all the Sanitary Boards and Local Health and Sanitation Boards that existed at that time. The Town Councils were divided into wards and provided local services such as thoroughfares, public health, common amenities, physical planning and the collection of revenue.


Post independence

When Ceylon achieved independence in 1948 local authorities consisted of Municipal Councils (3), Urban Councils, Town Councils and Village Committees. The ''Local Authorities Enlargement of Powers Act No. 8 of 1952'' transferred some powers from Central Government to local authorities and granted new powers to Urban Councils. In the thirty years after independence local authorities received more and more powers. There were 40 amendments to the ''Municipal Councils Ordinance'', 44 amendments to the ''Urban Councils Ordinance'', 23 Amendments to the ''Town Councils Ordinance'' and 49 amendments to the ''Village Committees Ordinance''. The 1979 Tennakoon Commission recommended that District Development Councils (DDC) be established to carry out development functions currently carried out by the Central Government. The ''District Councils Act No. 35 of 1980'' was passed by
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
and 24 DDCs created. The DDCs consisted of elected members and local Members of Parliament. District Ministers were also created. In addition, legislation was passed to abolish the Town Councils and Village Committees and to transfer their functions to the new DDCs. This last move was opposed by the Tennakoon Commission. The 24 DDCs started functioning on 1 July 1981. At the same time 83 Town Councils and 549 Village Committees were abolished. The DDCs didn’t live up to expectations and a new form of local government was sought. The Wanasinghe Committee recommended that the DDC’s be abolished and replaced by ''Divisional Councils'' (''Pradeshiya Sabha'' or ''Pradesha Sabhai''), sometimes called Rural Councils or Regional Councils. Parliament passed the ''Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987'' on 15 April 1987. The Divisional Councils were generally commensurate with their namesake Divisional Secretariats (Assistant Government Agent). The ''Local Authorities (Amendment) Act Nos. 20 and 24 of 1987'' also changed the method of electing all local authority members from the
first past the post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
using
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...
to
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
using
open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, par ...
s. 257 Divisional Councils started functioning on 1 January 1988. The 13th Amendment to the
Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...
transferred the control and supervision of local government from Central Government to the newly created
Provincial Councils A province is a geographic region within Gaelic games, consisting of several County (Gaelic games), counties of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the historic four provinces of Ireland as they were set in 1610. Provin ...
. However, powers relating to the form, structure and national policy on local government remained with the Central Government. This meant that only the Central Government could create new local authorities, promote them, dissolve them and call an election. In 1995 a Divisional Council was created for
Biyagama Biyagama ( si, බියගම, ta, பியகம) is a suburb in Gampaha District, situated in the Western Province of Sri Lanka. It is 12 miles from Colombo. A Free Trade Zone was established in Biyagama in 1985. "Kaduwela" interchange of expr ...
which had previously been governed by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. In 1997 Moratuwa and Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte Urban Councils were promoted to Municipal Councils. As of 199 there were 309 local authorities (14 MC, 37 UC, 258 DC). All parts of Sri Lanka are governed by local authorities except the Free Trade Zones in
Katunayake Katunayake ( si, කටුනායක, ta, கட்டுநாயகம்), is a suburb of Negombo city in Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is the site of Bandaranaike International Airport or Colombo Airport, the primary international air g ...
and Koggala which are governed by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. In January 2011 there were a number of changes to local authorities, taking the total number to 335: two urban councils were promoted to municipal councils (Bandarawela, Hambantota), one divisional council was promoted to municipal council (Kaduwela), one divisional council was promoted to urban council (Eravur), two new municipal councils were created (Akkaraipattu, Dambulla) and two new divisional councils were created (Lunugala, Narammala). Millaniya Divisional Council was created from parts of Bandaragama Divisional Council in October 2012. Thamankaduwa Divisional Council was split into Polonnaruwa Municipal Council and Polonnaruwa Pradeshiya Sabha in December 2016. In November 2017 Maskeliya Divisional Council and Norwood Divisional Council were created from parts of Ambagamuwa Divisional Council, and Agarapathana Divisional Council and Kotagala Divisional Council were created from parts of Nuwara Eliya Divisional Council. As of November 2017 there were 341 local authorities (24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils and 276 divisional councils). On 10 October 2012 Parliament passed the ''Local Authorities (Special Provisions) Act, No. 21 of 2012'' and ''Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 22 of 2012'', changing the electoral system for electing local authority members from open list proportional representation to a
mixed electoral system A mixed electoral system or mixed-member electoral system combines methods of majoritarian representation, majoritarian and proportional representation (PR). The majoritarian component is usually first-past-the-post voting (FPTP/SMP), whereas the ...
whereby 70% of members would be elected using first past the post voting and the remaining 30% through
closed list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...
proportional representation. In February 2016 Parliament passed ''Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 1 of 2016'' requiring 25% of candidates at local elections to be female. Small parties and those representing ethnic parties complained that the new mixed electoral system put them at a disadvantage and as a result the government agreed to change the ratio between first past the post and proportional representation. On 25 August 2017 Parliament passed ''Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act, No. 16 of 2017'' which, amongst things, changed the ratio between first past the post and proportional representation from 70:30 to 60:40. After the 2018 local elections, 29.1% of councillors were female, up from 1.9% in 2011.


Powers

Local authorities don’t derive their powers from an individual source but from numerous Acts and Ordinances. The main Acts relating to local government are the ''Municipal Council Ordinance No. 29 of 1947'', the ''Urban Councils Ordinance No. 61 of 1939'' and the ''Pradeshiya Sabha Act No. 15 of 1987''. As a consequence the three different types of local authorities have slightly different powers. Municipal Councils have more powers than Urban Councils and Divisional Councils. Local authorities have the power to instigate legal action, enter into contracts, acquire land and employ staff. However, these powers are somewhat curtailed by the fact that they are subordinate to the Central Government and Provincial Councils and by the fact that other state institutions (such as the
District Secretary A Government Agent (GA) or a District Secretary is a Sri Lankan civil servant of the Sri Lanka Administrative Service appointed by the central government to govern a certain district of the country. The GA is the administrative head of public servic ...
) enjoy similar powers as the local authority.


Services

Local authorities are required to "provide for the comfort, convenience and well being of the community". Laws require local authorities to carry out regulatory and administrative functions, promote public health and provide physical structures. Local authorities can only provide services which the law specifically allows them to do. Services provided by local authorities include roads, drains, parks, libraries, housing, waste collection, public conveniences, markets and recreational facilities. Sri Lanka's local authorities do not run schools, hospitals or the police.
State schools State schools (in England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand) or public schools (Scottish English and North American English) are generally primary or secondary educational institution, schools that educate all students without charge. They are ...
,
hospitals A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...
, and
police service The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...
are run by the Central Government or Provincial Councils. Water,
electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
, street lighting and rest houses used to be provided by local authorities but these services were taken over by various companies and departments under the control of the Central Government.


Electoral system

Prior to 1987 local authorities were elected using the
first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
system with each member representing a
ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
. The ''Local Authorities (Amendment) Act Nos. 20 and 24 of 1987'' changed the method of electing all local authority members from first-past-the-post to
proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
using
open list Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. This is as opposed to closed list, which allows only active members, par ...
s. In 2012 the electoral system was changed to a
Mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...
.


Distribution of local authorities

Distribution of local authorities by province/district in November 2017:


References

* * {{Asia topic, Local government in Government of Sri Lanka