The holding of local elections in Sri Lanka hangs in the balance after the Election Commission announced the opening of the registration period for prospective candidates while, at the same time, a petition is being processed in the Supreme Court to annul this decision.
Following the Commission’s decision to open a call for candidates from January 18, a retired colonel has asked the Sri Lankan Supreme Court to annul the decision due to the economic crisis facing the country and on the grounds that holding the polls would lead to a major disaster.
The petitioner has also alleged that the Election Commission would have to allocate at least 10 billion rupees to hold the elections, according to the annual budget, as reported by the ‘Daily Mirror’ newspaper on Wednesday.
In the backdrop of all this confusion, opposition parties, especially Samagi Jana Balawegaya, have accused the government of delaying the elections amid fears that the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) will lose support as they control the majority of local governments after the 2018 elections.
«There is no need to hold the local government elections in a hurry,» United National Party (UNP) general secretary Palitha Range Bandara, who rules alongside Ranil Wickremesinghe’s SLPP, has defended on his part, as reported by ‘Daily News’.
Wickremesinghe, who was appointed president by Parliament last July 20 after the flight of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has given some sense of stability to the country after addressing water and fuel shortages, the main reasons why the population decided to occupy the streets, although he has not been able to calm social demands.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
