The cabinet will make a decision on holding provincial council elections before May 31st. This will be discussed at a party leaders meeting chaired by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. The meeting is due to convene in two weeks.
President Maithripala Sirisena presented a cabinet paper two weeks ago. He proposed that provincial council elections be held before May 31st. The cabinet paper said that elections should be held according to the preferential voting system.
At yesterday’s (Feb 12) cabinet meeting,Minister of Internal & Home Affairs and Provincial Councils & Local Government Vajira Abeywardene presented his views on the above proposal.
The Minister explained that should elections of all provincial councils be held on the same day, approval should be obtained from the Chief Ministers to dissolve provincial councils whose terms have not ended. Further, the provincial council act should be amended for elections to be held according to the prevailing system.
