SRI LANKA Sri Lanka prepares for local elections despite economic crisis

The candidacies will be presented in the coming weeks while the vote will take place in mid-March. Uncertainty persists about the real possibility that it can be carried out. Tamil National Alliance MP calls for citizen participation.

Colombo () – Yesterday the long-awaited call for local elections in Sri Lanka was published: the districts will accept candidacies from January 18 to 21 and the vote will take place in March, despite the fact that the country is facing one of the worst economic crises and monetary history.

The announcement was made yesterday morning by the president of the Electoral Commission, Nimal G. Punchihewa, adding that the votes will be held before March 15, in order to allow the formation of 340 local authorities in the following four days.

Even activists from Aragalaya, the protest movement that led to the resignation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, have declared that they are prepared to compete.

Local governments in Sri Lanka are divided into three sub-categories: 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils, and 276 district councils in rural areas, while the total number of registered voters entitled to vote is approximately 16.7 million.

Rejecting speculation that local elections will cost Rs 10 billion ($26 million) or more, Punchihewa said the Election Commission will do its best to limit costs to Rs 8 billion ($20.6 million). , and specified that the electoral officials will be less than 200,000.

Candidates from political parties and independent groups are competing for 8,711 seats. The voting system is mixed: 60% uninominal absolute and 40% proportional. Political parties and independent groups should include 25% women on their list of candidates and give young people the chance to be represented at 30%. However, this is not mandatory because the relevant law has not yet been passed.

It is still unclear whether the elections will actually take place, largely due to a petition filed in the High Court by a retired military officer seeking a stay order citing Sri Lanka’s ongoing currency crisis.

For their part, the opposition parties accuse the government of delaying the vote because the ruling group, the Sri Lankan Podujana Peramuna (Slpp), fears an embarrassing defeat.

Shanakkian Rasamanikkam, Tamil National Alliance MP from eastern Batticaloa district, explained that in Sri Lanka’s history, elections have been postponed three times after nominations have been submitted, but added that this time there is no reason to postpone them. For this reason, he said, “I ask you to prepare to vote with enthusiasm. This vote is the first opportunity for the people who fought in Sri Lanka and who are asking for a change in the system,” the deputy asked the citizens, referring to the Aragalaya protesters.