News
Time frame for presidential poll set by law: elections chief
Discretion permitted for other elections
by Rathindra Kuruwita
The presidential election is the only election that the constitution has set a time frame for, Commissioner General of Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake said last week. He said this is not the case with other elections, so the presidential election can’t be postponed.
“The Elections Commission has no direct authority over holding other elections. Consider the local authorities elections as an example. The tenure of the local councils is four years. The line minister can hold the election a year earlier, or he can extend their terms by a year.
“The tenure of a parliament is five years but the president can dissolve parliament after two and a half years of its term.. This is not the case with a presidential election,” he said.
Ratnayake said the constitution lays down a five-year term for the presidency and there are no provisions to extend it. On November 18, 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as president. The constitution stipulates that the next presidential election should be held between September 18 and October 18.
The Commissioner General of Elections said even if the president dissolves parliament in the first week of September, his department has the capability of holding both the general and presidential election on dates close to each other.
“The constitution says that if a president dissolves parliament, he or she is bound to provide the necessary funding and other facilities for an election. This year, we asked for 20 billion rupees to hold the presidential and local or provincial council elections. We only got 10 billion but if the government decides to hold local or provincial council elections, the treasury is bound to provide us the necessary funds,” he said.
Ratnayake said the estimates for the 2024 elections were based on prices that prevailed in late 2023. He added that there are about 800,000 first time voters for the election to be held in 2024.
Commenting on campaign financing, he said that this is not a new concept for Sri Lanka. Expenditure by candidates was limited by law until 1977.
“George E. de Silva lost his seat in parliament in 1948 following an election petition filed by his opponent, T.B. Ilangaratne. He was deprived of his civic rights on being found guilty of not listing an expenditure of Rs. 40 for getting his manifesto translated in his election expenditure return,
K. M. P. Rajaratna was fined Rs. 100 in 1955 by the District Court of Badulla for not submitting his election expenses return. He also lost his seat. Elections were then worked on the first- past-the post basis,” he said.
This changed with the proportional representation system where political parties submit a list of nominations of candidates. Earlier, each candidate was responsible for handing in his or her own nomination papers, Ratnayake said.
Politicians need funds to run a campaign, he said. However, when there is no cap on expenditure, availability of money becomes the determining factor in winning elections. During the 2018 local election, a candidate spent 40 million rupees for a ward with 1,800 voters in Maduraketiya, Moneragala, Ratnayake said describing this as “ludicrous.”
A meeting between President Anura Kumara Disanayake and officials of the Excise Department was held on Tuesday (11) at the Presidential Secretariat.
The discussion focused on addressing the current challenges faced by the Excise Department and achieving this year’s revenue targets.
A key point of the discussion was the integration of the department’s operations with the Inland Revenue Department to enhance efficiency and fairness in tax collection.
Attention was drawn to the efficient and effective regulation of alcohol and other approved intoxicants within the country to support economic growth. This includes increasing state revenue through proper regulation of the alcohol and tobacco industries, facilitating legal revenue generation, enforcing compliance with laws and regulations, implementing strong awareness programs against illegal alcohol, hazardous drugs, and psychoactive substances, preventing health risks associated with unregulated alcohol consumption, and ensuring public safety.
Discussions were held on revenue collection and protection through an effective decision-making and management mechanism in strategic and operational activities.
The necessity of formulating a human resource and technological development plan to enhance the efficiency of the Excise Department was also discussed.
The meeting was attended by Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Finance Mahinda Siriwardana, Commissioner General of Excise Udaya Kumara Perera, and a group of Excise Department officials.
[PMD]
Sexual assault on female doctor at A’pura hospital
By Norman Palihawadane and Saman Indrajith
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament yesterday that the main suspect involved in the alleged rape of a female doctor at the doctors’ quarters of the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital had been identified as an Army deserter.
Responding to a question raised by Opposition and SJB leader Sajith Premadasa, the Minister said that authorities had uncovered many details pertaining to this tragic incident. Five police teams have been deployed to track down and arrest the suspect.
“We have information about the whereabouts of the suspect, and the police believe that the suspect can be taken in soon,” the Minister said.
Opposition Leader Premadasa raised concerns in Parliament, condemning the attack and questioning the safety of female doctors in public hospitals. He urged the government to take immediate action and proposed stricter laws to punish perpetrators of such crimes.
Premadasa said the doctor had faced the situation while she was going to her on-call duty room.
“An outsider is said to have threatened the doctor using a knife. He is then said to have allegedly raped her inside her duty room. Sri Lanka has not heard of such incidents inside a hospital in recent times,” he said.
Premadasa said it is a serious issue for a doctor to be attacked while on duty at a prominent state hospital. He said that it raised questions about the safety of female doctors in government hospitals.
Condemning the incident, the Opposition Leader said even female officers engaged in public service are being inconvenienced and it was a serious problem for the safety of the people.
Urging the government to take strict action regarding this incident, MP Premadasa said the Opposition was ready to support the enactment of the necessary legislation to impose severe punishment on those who commit such barbaric acts.
The incident, which occurred on Monday night (10), sparked outrage, with doctors at the hospital launching a strike, demanding justice.
Doctors at the Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital were on strike, demanding the immediate arrest of the suspect at the time this edition went to the press.
By Saman Indrajith
Leader of the House and Transport Minister Bimal Ratanayake has acknowledged that those whose land had been taken over by the government for the Ruwanpura Expressway project were still paying rates.
Minister Ratnayake told parliament on Monday (10) that the MPS should help the Divisional Secretariats and Pradeshiya Sabhas to address the issue at hand.
The Minister said so when Colombo District NPP MP Aruna Panagoda asked why people had to pay rates for lands earmarked for acquisition by the state.
The Minister said that the government intended to compensate everyone by the end of this year.
Panagoda said that for the past decade, landowners, whose properties had been earmarked for takeover for the construction of the expressway, had been required to pay rates.
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