The Election Commission (EC) stated that it will reach a final decision on the uncertain situation regarding the Local Government (LG) election after considering the outcome of the discussion with Prime Minister (PM) and LG Minister, Dinesh Gunawardena and the weekly discussions held by the EC members.
In this context, The Daily Morning queried EC Chairman, Attorney Nimal G. Punchihewa as to whether the EC hopes to have a discussion with political party representatives again. In response to that, he said: “We held a discussion with the secretaries of the political parties that are contesting in the LG elections. Therefore, we have no intention of discussing with them again. As the EC, we meet weekly. Based on the outcome of those discussions, we will make a decision.”
When queried as to whether they had received a reply to their letter requesting a discussion with the Prime Minister, he said: “We haven’t received a reply yet, but we believe that we will have an opportunity to discuss with him this week.”
When contacted by The Daily Morning, the Premier’s Media Secretary, Lalith Rohana Liyanage said that the PM is yet to reply to the EC, but that it is likely to happen within this week.
The LG election was scheduled to be held on 25 April, but later postponed without a specific date as the necessary funds have not been released by the General Treasury.
Although the LG election was scheduled to be held on 9 March, the Finance Ministry and the General Treasury did not release funds to the EC. The EC then rescheduled the LG election to 25 April, and the postal voting to 28, 29, 30 and 31 March and April 3, but the required funds are yet to be released. Against this backdrop, the EC postponed postal voting. Many parties have speculated that the date of the LG election, 25 April, will also have to be postponed.
Source By themorning.lk
