15,000 seek UNP candidacy at local government elections of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's major opposition United National Party (UNP) sources say that the party has received around 15,000 applications for the party candidacy at the upcoming local government election.

The local government election is anticipated to be held in next year under a new system.
The UNP General secretary Tissa Attanayake says that the party will end interviewing the applicants to select candidates by December this year.
The interviews are to be commenced in the middle of October at district levels.
The government is to present the Local Government Election Bill in the parliament next month. The bill would introduce the first-past-the-post electoral system to hold elections for local government institutions.
The proposed bill would enable the government to conduct the next local government election under both the first-past-the-post and the present Proportional Representative (PR) system.