rice and pensions for families before local elections

On behalf of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, aid and back payments to deal with the drop in popularity on the eve of the March 9 vote. Meanwhile, the department that must print the ballots requests advances from the Electoral Commission, which does not want to grant them. Transparency International mobilizes to monitor the elections.

Colombo () – The Sri Lankan Council of Ministers last night approved President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal and launched new assistance measures for the population to “provide immediate relief from the current economic situation” and “reduce the difficulties” of citizens . But the help comes at a time when the government’s popularity is on the wane and local elections are drawing near.

The assistance planned by the government includes the delivery of 10 kg of rice to 2 million families, the payment of back wages to 18,000 state pensioners and the purchase of essential medicines. “These measures are intended to provide immediate aid to those in need and alleviate the hardships of vulnerable groups. The government is committed to improving the quality of life for all citizens, especially those most in need,” a statement from the office read. of the president.

Meanwhile, the Printing Department of the Sri Lankan Government has informed the Election Commission in writing that postal ballots for the local elections – scheduled for March 9 – will not be able to be printed until the corresponding payments are made. The Commission responded that in all the elections in the history of the country the payments were made once the elections were held, but added later that, “due to unavoidable circumstances”, the ballots will not be printed today, as planned. Commissioner General Saman Sri Ratnayake explained that the operation was postponed until later, after arrangements had been made to issue postal ballots at 1,116 centres.

Meanwhile, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) began monitoring the electoral process in 25 districts of the country and invited the population to denounce the misuse of public resources for electoral purposes. To this end, the TISL has deployed 25 district observers who will work with another 160 electoral supervision experts.

Nadishani Perera, executive director of the TISL, explained that “the use of public resources for campaign purposes would constitute an abuse tantamount to corruption. Therefore, we urge all political parties, candidates and independent groups to fulfill their legal obligations to accountability and transparency when it comes to financing political campaigns for the upcoming local elections”.

In addition, added the expert, these elections will be the first to be held after the promulgation of the law on the regulation of electoral expenses at the beginning of this year. The goal of a campaign finance law is to prevent undue influence of wealthy donors over parties and candidates, and to reduce unfair practices such as vote buying. Two hotlines and the organization’s website are available to citizens to file complaints, which can be accessed in Tamil, Sinhala and English. Upon receipt of the complaint, TISL will collect evidence, verify the information and forward it to the Sri Lanka Election Commission for appropriate action.

Sri Lanka’s local government is divided into three sub-categories: 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils, and 276 district councils in rural areas. The total number of voters is approximately 16.7 million.