By Shamindra Ferdinando

Top Opposition spokesman Prof. G. L. Peiris yesterday (11) alleged that the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government was still contemplating how to put off the presidential election, scheduled to be conducted between 17 Sept., and 17 Oct., this year.

Declaring that in terms of the Constitution, the presidential election couldn’t be postponed under any circumstances, the former External Affairs Minister said, at the regular media briefing, at his Kirula Place residence, that the examination of all existing election laws and regulations by a 10-member committee, headed by retired Chief Justice Priyasath Dep, PC, shouldn’t be cited as the reason for the postponement.

Prof. Peiris was referring to the Dep Commission appointed in the first week of Nov, 2023, to make necessary recommendations for the amendment of election laws by early May this year.

The dissident SLPP lawmaker, who recently switched his allegiance to the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), said that the implementation of Dep Commission’s recommendations could take place under a new government.

Referring to the failure on the part of President Ranil Wickremesinghe and the ruling SLPP to reach a consensus on the presidential poll strategy, Prof. Peiris alleged that a deliberate attempt was being made to confuse the electorate with regard to the national election expected to be conducted first.

Prof. Peiris said that President Wickremesinghe could dissolve Parliament any time now in terms of the Constitution.

“Dissolution is permitted once the Parliament has completed two and half years of its five-year term. However, the general election cannot be called in such a way to hinder the Election Commission making an all-important announcement pertaining to presidential polls. With regard to the presidential poll that has to be conducted between Sept 17 and Oct 17 in terms of the existing constitutional provisions, the Election Commission will have to make the relevant declaration on July 15, this year,” Prof. Peiris said.

Both presidential and parliamentary terms are restricted to five years since 2015 though before the enactment of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, both had six year terms. SJB leader Sajith Premadasa has already declared his candidature at the presidential poll.

Commenting on Cabinet spokesperson Bandula Gunawardena’s recent statement that funds allocated for the conduct of elections this year had to be spent carefully, Prof. Peiris stressed that President Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Finance Minister in November last year, announced the allocation of Rs. 10 bn for the presidential poll. Therefore, the government couldn’t allocate that funding or part of it for the conduct of the general election, thereby cause a fresh issue by claiming insufficient money to hold both elections, Prof. Peiris.

Referring to the relevant section of the Constitution in case the government advanced the general election believing that it was advantageous for them, Prof. Peiris said that it would have to obtain the required funding from the Consolidated Fund.

At the onset of the briefing, Prof. Peiris said that democracy suffered a deadly blow early last year when President Wickremesinghe teamed up with the SLPP to make the Local Government polls disappear. There had never been a previous instance of any government indefinitely putting off an election, claiming that it hadn’t the wherewithal to do so, Prof. Peiris said, recalling how Finance Ministry Secretary Mahinda Siriwardana, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court declared that the country was in such a precarious situation, financially, he found it extremely difficult to allocate money for the conducting of the said election.

Prof. Peiris warned that the government, deeply concerned over deterioration of its standing among the people, was exploring ways and means of postponing elections. The former minister asserted that the government examined how it could achieve its despicable objective by advancing general elections, thereby jeopardizing scheduled presidential polls and by using Dep Commission recommendations.

Responding to media queries on President Wickremesinghe’s attacking speech at Kuliyapitiya on Sunday (10), Prof. Peiris said that the UNP leader seemed to be seriously concerned about the SJB campaign.

Had he not been concerned there was no need for him to take such an aggressive stand, Prof. Peiris said, comparing Ranil Wickremesinghe who as a student learnt law from him and an aggressive President.

The UNP officially announced Wickremesinghe’s presidential candidate at the Kuliyapitiya meeting. The only UNP lawmaker in Parliament Wajira Abeywardena declared that Wickremesinghe would poll as much as 10 mn votes at the forthcoming presidential poll.