EC confident of LG polls going ahead

Despite various difficulties, the Election Commission (EC) is still confident that there will be no postponement of the 2023 local government election scheduled for March 9.

This week, the EC wrote to the Treasury asking for the release of Rs. 800 million for initial expenses related to the conduct of the polls. The Commission estimates that it will require Rs. 3 billion for its work up until Election Day, EC Chairman Nimal Punchihewa told the Sunday Times. “Overall, we believe we can manage the election with Rs. 8 billion,” he added, pointing out it will still be lower than the Rs. 10 billion that had been allocated to the EC by Parliament via Budget 2023 to conduct the LG Election.

Mr Punchihewa also claimed that the EC had yet to receive any official confirmation regarding the reported resignation of EC member P.S.M Charles. This was after reports said that Mrs. Charles had tendered her resignation to President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday. “We too only learned about it through media reports but we are yet to receive a resignation letter or official confirmation of any kind,” he revealed.

Even if Mrs. Charles has resigned, the resignation of one member of the five-member EC will not affect its work, Mr Punchihewa remarked.

Meanwhile, the Constitutional Council (CC) which met for the first time on Wednesday discussed about the constitution of the independent commissions, including the EC. The CC agreed to call for applications from interested and qualified individuals through a newspaper advertisement. A period of two weeks from the date of advertisement will be given to furnish such applications.

Election monitors too believe that the election is likely to go ahead as scheduled unless there is an intervention by Court or by Parliament.

Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), said he was “fully confident” that the election will go ahead as planned.

The EC has also drafted regulations related to campaign financing in the Regulation of Election Expenditure Bill recently passed by Parliament, with Rs. 20 being set as the ceiling that a candidate can spend on each voter. Given this development, Mr Hettiarachchi said it was no longer possible for someone to successfully mount a court challenge claiming that the EC was not acting in accordance with the new law.