Sri Lanka court convicts president over vote delay

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By Editor_1
Sri Lanka's President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is seeking re-election for a five-year term in the September polls, was guilty of “unlawful conduct” on Thursday (August 22, 2024) for delaying by more than a year local polls seen as an unofficial referendum on his handling of the economy -EPA-EFE/File

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s top court found President Ranil Wickremesinghe guilty of “unlawful conduct” on Thursday (22) for delaying by more than a year local polls seen as an unofficial referendum on his handling of the economy.

Since Wickremesinghe enjoys immunity while in office, the judgment carries no immediate legal consequences, but the state of the economy is expected to be a key issue for voters in the presidential elections in September.

Because the local polls were postponed, the Sept 21 election will now be the first vote since Wickremesinghe took over in 2022 after protesters, furious at an unprecedented financial crisis, toppled strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe, 75, is seeking re-election for a five-year term in September, and faces a daunting challenge from rival candidates.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously held that he failed to release money to conduct the local government elections in March 2023.

Wickremesinghe’s administration said the money in state coffers was needed to pay public servants and pensions, despite a previous court order to finance the vote.

The court said Wickremesinghe’s “arbitrary and unlawful conduct” in preventing the local polls had resulted in the infringement of constitutional rights.

It ordered the independent election commission to hold the local polls as soon as possible, but without disrupting the upcoming presidential vote.

The state was also ordered to pay the legal fees of four petitioners who challenged the indefinite postponement of the polls.

Wickremesinghe, previously an opposition member of Parliament, was elected by lawmakers in July 2022 as interim president after his predecessor Rajapaksa quit due to the protests over the economic crisis.

Wickremesinghe secured a US$2.9 billion (S$3.8 billion) bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in March 2023 after doubling income taxes, removing energy subsidies and increasing prices.

The local poll scheduled for March 2023 had been widely seen as a referendum on the unpopular austerity measures taken to secure the IMF bailout.

Opposition lawmakers accused Wickremesinghe at the time of using the economic crisis as an excuse to sabotage democracy.

-AFP

 

Editor_1
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