Govt. supporters disrupt inaugural meeting of Weligama PS:

Commissioner of Local Government in the Southern Province Erandi Umanga Mendis yesterday postponed elections to the posts of Chairperson and Vice Chairperson in Weligama Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) when the members and supporters of the NPP disrupted the council proceedings, alleging that two NPP members had been prevented from attending the council. They said the PS members had been abducted.

The police said they had launched an investigation into the alleged abduction of two NPP councillors.

A senior police officer said the probe was still at the preliminary stage, and a media statement on it would be issued laster.

No party has obtained a working majority in the 45-member Weligama PS. The NPP won 22 seats, the SJB 9 seats, SLPP 6 seats, the Independent Group 3 seats, the UNP and Sarvajana Balaya two seats each and UPFA one seat. The NPP won 22 of the 24 wards in the PS while the SJB and the Independent group won one ward each.

The NPP needs one more vote to secure an absolute majority in the Weligama PS.

Trouble erupted when the NPP informed the LG Commissioner that two of its members had not arrived at the council and they believed that they may have been abducted. However, as the absence of two members did not affect the quorum for the meeting, the Commissioner said she would continue with it. Thereafter, a group of NPP supporters stormed the council, disrupting the proceedings. The SJB alleged that the NPP members and supporters had disrupted the meeting as they had failed to engineer a crossover to gain control of the hung council.

Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) Manjula Gajanayake said he believed that the situation in the Weligama PS had been created by those who did not want elections held to the posts of the PS Chairperson and Vice Chairperson. The election monitor said the LG commissioner should have asked the police to deal with the troublemakers and held the elections as the minimum quorum of 23 members was available.

The Local Government Commissioners caused confusion in people’s minds, and an erosion of public trust in the electoral process by wavering between the election laws and the administrative guidelines sans a unified approach. He also said that as of Friday (27) elections on the 14 Local Councils had been postponed due to various reasons.

by Priyan de Silva and Norman Palihawadena ✍️