World News | Sri Lankan Parliament Approves Local Election Bill
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. The Sri Lankan government and the Opposition voted together on Monday to approve a legal amendment which would pave the way to hold the long-stalled local council elections.
Colombo, Feb 17 (PTI) The Sri Lankan government and the Opposition voted together on Monday to approve a legal amendment which would pave the way to hold the long-stalled local council elections.
The Local Authorities Elections (Special Provisions) Bill was approved with 187 members voting for it and none against it, Speaker Jagath Wickremaratne announced at the end of an over four-hour debate.
In an earlier judgement, the Supreme Court had ruled that a special parliamentary majority of two-thirds in the 225-member assembly was required to approve the bill.
The election for 340 local councils was postponed twice in 2023 after the then government cited the lack of finances to conduct it amid the island nation's worst economic crisis.
The Opposition had petitioned the Supreme Court against the postponement, claiming that then president Ranil Wickremesinghe was depriving finances to the election commission over his fear of losing the local council polls.
Later, the apex court ordered the election to be held as soon as possible and stated that Wickremesinghe, as the minister of finance, had violated the voters' fundamental rights by failing to hold it.
The bill was required to annul the nominations accepted in 2023 and to empower the Elections Commission to call for fresh nominations.
The depleted Opposition in the face of the government's 159 members urged during the debate to postpone the calling of nominations until after March 21, when the budget debate is scheduled to end.
They argued that it was difficult to participate in the budget debate while campaigning in the regions.
According to sources, the government hopes to conduct the election by April.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)