The private members’ Bill presented by Samagi Jana Balawegaya Parliamentarian Imthiaz Bakeer Markar recommending a 25% youth quota in the every election nominations must be passed by a majority in Parliament immediately, a group of youth activists said.
Speaking to the media at the Sri Lanka Press Institute on Wednesday, the ‘Youth to Lead Sri Lanka’ Group stressed that all political parties should cooperate to increase representation and quality of youth in Sri Lankan politics. The ‘Youth to Lead Sri Lanka’ is a citizen pressure group with a special focus on promoting youth political participation and representation in Sri Lanka.
MP Bakeer Markar’s Bill has already been published in the Gazette and will be presented in Parliament soon. It was the view of the participants that a quota system is a necessary temporary measure to improve youth political representation around the existing political structures in Sri Lanka.”
“In order to reap real benefits from such a system, campaign finance regulation must be linked and implemented effectively as soon as possible, while a well-functioning party mechanism is also being set up in every political party to build grassroots leadership of young leaders to advance in politics”, they said. “We believe that political nepotism and wealth should not be a decisive factor for any young person who aspires to contest in any election. We also acknowledge that it is extremely important to increase the political literacy of the country’s citizens”, they said.
Co-Convener of the association, Sachinda Dulanjana, Thiloka Yapa, Supun Wijerathne and Shaheer Ahamed also spoke at this press briefing.
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