“Both Belgium and Sri Lanka are democracies but they follow different systems of power sharing”. Explain.

Belgium is a small country in Western Europe with a complex ethnic composition. 59 % of its population are Dutch-speaking and 40% are French-speaking.

Major groups of Sri Lanka are Sinhala (74 per cent) and Tamil speakers (18 per cent).

The statement can be supported by the following three facts:

(a) According to Belgium’s Constitution, the Dutch and the French-speaking minister should be an equal number in the central government. Hence no single community can make the decision unilaterally. Contrary to it, leaders of Sinhala community in Sri Lanka sought to secure dominance over the government by virtue of their majority and refused to share power with Tamils.

(b) In Belgium, some of the powers of the central government are transferred to the State government. Hence the state government is not the subordinate of the central government. But in Sri Lanka, the democratically elected government

(c) In Belgium, there is no discrimination between religions. But in Sri Lanka, a new Constitution declares that the state shall protect and foster Buddhism.