Sri Lanka's main opposition asks government to hold elections to remaining LG bodies on one day

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has said the Election Commissioner's decision to postpone elections in several local government bodies was inadvertently helpful to the government and has called on the government to take measures to hold elections to the remaining local government bodies on one day.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake has told the media that Elections Chief Dayananda Dishanayake's decision has helped the government to hold local government elections in a scattered manner.

Attanayake says the Local Government Act does not give the power to the Elections Commissioner to postpone elections without a court order.

"However, in this instance, he has explained to the party secretaries that it was done due to a practical issue," Attanayake has said.

According to Attanayake, everything depended on the court ruling on the writ applications.

He has explained that although there are several cases filed, all the cases are based on three or four issues. Therefore the court could consider the matter accordingly.

Nevertheless, Attanayake has observed that the decision would help the government to hold the local government elections in a scattered manner.

"The government did not call for elections in several municipal councils like Badulla, Anuradhapura and Matale after saying elections to municipal councils in areas where World Cup cricket matches are played would not be held on March 17," he has said, adding that with the postponement of elections to several other local government bodies, elections would not be held on March 17 for 35 percent of the bodies.

The UNP has called on the government to take measures to hold elections for the remaining local government bodies on one day.