Lanka to hold local elections in phases

Sri Lanka’s election body yesterday announced to hold local polls on a staggered basis after the government’s proposal to hold them on a single day got stuck in legal technicalities, a media report said.President Maithripala Sirisena’s faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party has been accused of delaying the election out of fear of losing them by the faction led by former president Mahinda Rajapakse.The government had postponed the elections for over 330 local councils in the island nation since 2015 for electoral reforms.In order to postpone the polls by a year, the government proposed an amendment to the constitution to hold elections for all nine provincial councils on a single day.The Supreme Court in September ruled that the proposed 20th amendment to the constitution to hold council elections on a single day requires two-thirds parliamentary majority and a nationwide referendum.Election Commission (EC) chief Mahinda Deshapriya said that the date to file nominations in 93 councils would be announced in two weeks.He said that the EC would rather hold elections on the staggered basis than postponing them as he cited numerous occasions when elections were held on such basis.Deshapriya’s decision followed the appeal court’s stay order until December 4 covering the local government minister’s implementation of gazette on delimitation report.The EC was expected to announce nomination dates for elections to 341 local councils last week.In the history of provincial council elections since 1988, elections for the nine provinces have been always held on a staggered basis. Two of the councils end their terms this month while one of them ends on October 1.If elections are held, they would be the first test of the unity government headed by President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.