COLOMBO – The government has decided to call fresh nominations for the local council elections which have been on hold since March of 2023, it was announced on Tuesday (3).
The election for 340 councils for four-year terms came to be postponed even after nominations had been filed and dates set twice in March and April of 2023.
The last local election was held in February of 2018.
The Cabinet decided on Monday (2) to amend the Local Council Elections Act to facilitate the calling of fresh nominations, Cabinet spokesperson Nalinda Jayathissa said.
“The amendment would allow the Elections Commission to announce fresh nominations,” Jayathissa said.
The Cabinet of Ministers granted the approval to draft the Local Government Elections (Special Provisions) Bill in order to make necessary provisions for the recalling of nominations for Local Government (LG) elections, he said.
The then government of President Ranil Wickremesinghe said the Treasury was unable to provide the monies required due to the economic crisis.
However, the opposition went to court, which, in turn, ruled that Wickremesinghe as the minister of finance had violated the fundamental rights of the voters by not holding the election.
The court found fault with the Election Commission and ordered that the election be held as soon as possible.
Earlier on November 23, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath had announced that Sri Lanka’s local council election could take place early next year with the new National People’s Power (NPP) government initially thought to be holding the election by January next year.
Local media reports said that at an all-party leaders’ meeting on November 25, it was agreed that the nominations called in the year 2023 should be cancelled and new nominations should be called for.
Accordingly, the Cabinet approved the proposal submitted by the Minister of Public Administration, Provincial Councils and Local Government to instruct the Legal Draftsman to prepare the Local Government Elections (Special Provisions) Bill.
-PTI
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.