-By Political Correspondent
(Lanka-e-News -17.June.2025, 11.00 PM) In a dramatic twist to the Colombo Municipal Council saga, the National People's Power (NPP) candidate Vrai Kelly Balthazaar was elected as the new Mayor of Colombo yesterday, securing 61 votes—including 13 from the opposition—in a secret ballot held at the inaugural council session.
The result delivers a significant blow to the main opposition alliance backing SLPP-leaning candidate Reza Zarook, who was widely expected to clinch the post following last week’s local government elections.
Balthazaar’s victory comes amid mounting calls to reform Sri Lanka’s much-maligned proportional bonus seat allocation system, which has once again thrown the capital city’s governance into chaotic ambiguity.
Ahead of the vote, the Deputy Mayor post was filled unopposed, with Maligawatte’s Hemanta Kumar appointed without a ballot. However, the contest for Mayor ignited fierce political manoeuvring behind closed doors.
Despite widespread allegations of corruption against him, Reza Zarook was nominated as the unified candidate by a grand coalition including the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Muslim Congress, and several minor parties.
Zarook’s backers demanded an open vote to ensure the allegiance of councillors who had previously pledged support. In contrast, Balthazaar’s NPP bloc, having independently secured 48 out of 66 wards in Colombo, insisted on a secret ballot—a request eventually granted by mutual agreement.
The Western Provincial Commissioner, Sarangika Jayasundara, faced immense pressure from the opposition, which presented a signed letter claiming the support of 60 councillors for Zarook. However, she remained firm, asserting that anonymous letters were not legally binding and that she was obliged to proceed in accordance with electoral law—not political wishful thinking.
In the end, the secret ballot revealed deep fractures within Zarook’s coalition. While he claimed to have 60 votes on paper, only 54 materialised in the final count. Balthazaar swept past him with 61 votes, sealing the mayoralty with cross-party support and possibly some tactical abstentions.
Two ballots were rejected, and it later emerged that six councillors who had pledged support to Zarook had switched sides—prompting a visibly agitated Zarook to denounce “black sheep” in his ranks during a post-vote press conference.
“This is why we wanted an open vote,” he snapped. “At least then, we could verify that the votes we bought stayed bought.”
Beyond the mayoral drama, the outcome reignited criticism of the proportional bonus seat system. Despite winning the majority of wards, Balthazaar’s NPP bloc received no bonus seats. In contrast, the UNP, which won just two wards, was granted 11 bonus councillors.
Even more perplexingly, 18 bonus seats were distributed among parties and groups that failed to win a single ward—leading many to label the system a grotesque distortion of democratic will.
“How is it that the party with a clear mandate is left scrambling for control, while the vanquished enjoy inflated representation?” asked one analyst. “If this isn’t a perversion of the people’s will, then what is?”
Further compounding the crisis, dozens of elected councillors have yet to formally assume office. A staggering 330 seats across the country remain vacant because parties have not officially nominated their candidates to the Election Commission.
The confusion has left local authorities paralysed, with no effective governance in many councils. Critics argue that the present electoral framework is structurally defective and ripe for exploitation, inviting vote-trading, backdoor deals, and the politicisation of basic administrative functions.
“There must be an overhaul of this system,” urged one political commentator. “A council that can’t elect a mayor without horse-trading is not a functional arm of government—it’s a farce.”
For now, Vrai Kelly Balthazaar assumes office as Colombo’s first female mayor under the NPP banner—her victory a symbolic and strategic win for the rising leftist party.
But as the ink dries on the ballot papers and the backroom deals fade into whispered memory, the question remains: can she govern effectively in a council where allegiances shift like sand?
One thing is clear: Colombo’s political map has been redrawn—not at the ballot box, but in the shadows behind it.
-By Political Correspondent
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by (2025-06-17 19:23:13)
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