question delay in seeking required funding

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Prof. G.L.Peiris yesterday (03) said that if Local Government polls were to be held by March 20, 2023 as scheduled, the Election Commission (EC) should take tangible measures to set the process in motion.The former Foreign Minister Prof. Peiris said that the EC should ask for required funds from the government and make the necessary administrative appointments to prepare the groundwork.

However, the EC was yet to request for the necessary funding, the SLPP Chairman and National List MP told the media at the Nawala office of Nidahas Janatha Sabhawa comprising over a dozen rebel government members.Prof. Peiris said that his group had received an assurance from the EC about two weeks back that it would take steps to conduct LG polls by March 20, 2023. Appreciating the assurance given by Chairman of the EC Attorney-at-Law Nimal Punchihewa, Prof. Peiris said that as far as he was aware the EC was yet to ask for required funding.

Referring to the recent proposals made by Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, to Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena for the appointment of a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) for electoral reforms, including at the level of LG, Prof. Peiris alleged that it was nothing but a ruse to put off the polls.The academic asked how the ruling party could even consider such a proposal against the backdrop of a comprehensive set of proposals made by a PSC headed by none other than the current Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, leader of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP).

Prof. Peiris pointed out that Dinesh Gunawardena’s committee produced the report that was handed over to the government about four years ago after nearly eight years of deliberations. The former minister said that the government should be ashamed of its efforts to further put off the scheduled elections at a time even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) questioned the legitimacy of the government.

At the onset of the briefing, the National List MP explained how the government, now engaged in talks with the IMF could benefit by conducting the scheduled polls regardless of the outcome. Prof. Peiris stressed that the responsibility on the part of the government to secure legitimacy if it was keen to finalise the agreement on USD 2.9 bn loan facility by end of this year. The postponement of LG polls against the backdrop of the indefinite delay in Provincial Council polls wouldn’t be acceptable to the IMF, he asserted.

Prof. Peiris maintained that the government was so unpopular it couldn’t win even 20 percent of the votes cast at the next election.The ex-minister said that political parties and groups in the Opposition recently reached an understanding as regards counter measures against government bid to put off LG polls. “We’ll move the Supreme Court if the government sought to further postpone scheduled elections,” Prof. Peiris said.

Referring to several Supreme Court decisions given over the years in respect of matters concerning elections, Prof. Peiris stressed that one particular ruling stressed the responsibility on the part of the government to provide required funding. Another ruling underscored that LG polls couldn’t be put off unless approved by the electorate at a referendum.The rebel leader said that the Opposition wouldn’t accept under any circumstances the change of the composition of the EC comprising five persons.

Responding to a spate of questions regarding Wednesday’s protest in Colombo called by an Opposition political grouping, Prof. Peiris said that the rebel SLPP group backed that initiative. The genuine Opposition backed such protests meant to pressure the government to stop arrests in terms of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), the former minister said.