Sri Lanka ruling party appoints committee to select local government heads

Sri Lanka's governing United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has appointed a seven-member committee to decide on the members to be appointed as heads of the local government bodies the Alliance won at last week's elections.


UPFA General Secretary and Minister Susil Premajayantha told a press conference that the seven-member committee will be headed by former Prime Minister and Senior Minister Rathnasiri Wickramanayaka.

According to Premajayantha, polling the highest number of preferential votes at the election would not make any candidate the automatic choice to head the respective council.

The committee is to decide on the persons this week as the names of the local government councilors are to be gazetted next week.

The Alliance won 205 local bodies out of the 234 for which the elections were held last Thursday (March 17).