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While stressing that the universal suffrage is a part of the sovereignty of the people guaranteed under basic law, former Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Musthapha PC, said the Election Commission (EC) is mandated to hold Local Government polls and constitute all 340 local government bodies on or before March 20th of 2023.

The Supreme Court in a judgement delivered in 2016 has ruled that delaying in conducting LG polls was a violation of the Fundamental Rights of the people, he added.

Granting relief to 18 petitioners of whom were chairmen or deputy chairmen of local government authorities in Galle and Matara Districts in the FR case no. 35/2016, filed against the EC, three other members, the Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils among 31 other respondents, a three judge bench chaired by Chief Justice Priyasath Dep agreeing with two other judges, Justice Anil Gunaratne PC and Justice Nalin Perera PC, has ordered the EC to hold LG polls without further delay.

“This court is of the view that the state should take steps to hold elections. We direct Respondents to take necessary steps to ensure that the elections are held without further delay,” the Supreme Court has ruled in that FR case.

“I am confident that the EC as an independent statutory body will hold LG polls on time and take steps to safeguard the free franchise of the people,” Musthapha said.

If the government has a genuine desire to introduce electoral reforms to LG polls, it can be done in a couple of months’ time with the consent of all political parties in Parliament paving the way for the EC to hold LG polls in early 2023. But the best thing to do is to hold LG polls first and enact electoral reforms after the establishment of new LG bodies, he noted.

Commenting on the continuous failure of the government to hold Provincial Councils election, which was postponed while he was the Minister in Charge, Musthapha said all the political parties represented in Parliament during the Yahapalana regime voted unanimously against the delimitation committee report presented to Parliament in August 2018 making it impossible to conduct PC polls.

According to Article 34 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the President Ranil Wickremesinghe has granted amnesty to eight Tamil prisoners who by the powers assigned to the President in connection with granting amnesty to a person convicted by a court of Sri Lanka.

As a result of several discussions between Tamil MPs and the President on several occasions, steps were taken to release these prisoners. Before their release, a preliminary investigation had been carried out on them with the intervention of the Ministry of Defence on the instructions of the President. This decision has been reached after consulting the Minister of Justice and through him the Attorney General about the consent report.

Three of the Tamil prisoners who were pardoned were those accused of attempting to assassinate former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Before proceeding with the process of releasing these prisoners, the President’s Secretary Mr Saman Ekanayake had sought the approval of former President Ms. Kumaratunga on the advice of the President, the relevant arrangements were made after obtaining her consent.

Accordingly, the four detainees with connections to the LTTE organization who were detained at the Colombo Magazine Prison were released after their sentence was reduced.

Two Tamil LTTE prisoners related to the organization are to be released after the cases filed by them in the Court of Appeal are withdrawn and two more Tamil prisoners are to be released soon under the presidential amnesty.

Three prisoners had been sentenced to 30 years in prison and had served 22 years, one prisoner who had been sentenced to 11 years and had served 14 years, one who has been sentenced to 10 years and had also served 14 years, two prisoners who were sentenced to five years but had served for14 years, were among those who received a presidential pardon. Another person who had been sentenced to 19 years in prison and had served 11 years of his sentence so far, was also among those who were pardoned.

The State Ministry of Education said a holiday was declared for Tamil medium schools today (25) in view of the Diwali festival.

Hindu devotees celebrated the Diwali festival yesterday (24).

The State Ministry of Education said relevant schools will function on Saturday, the 29th of October to cover the missed lessons.

While there are talks regarding the removal of MPs with dual citizenship following the passage of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, Parliament and the Election Commission (EC) have stated that any decision regarding such MPs should be taken through a judicial process as the matter is beyond their scope.

Speaking to The Morning, EC Chairman and Attorney-at-Law Nimal G. Punchihewa said: “The matter of dual citizens functioning as MPs is beyond the scope of the EC. Having dual citizenship is classified as a disqualification to become a MP, but the EC does not have the power to remove those who are disqualified. They can only be removed through a judicial process. When it comes to the EC, even if we know that an individual is a dual citizen and is handing over nominations for an election, we cannot reject that nomination under the existing laws.”

For instance, he said, although it was known that then-MP and incumbent State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe was holding dual citizenship, the EC had not rejected her nomination some time ago, and that she had contested the General Election and even entered Parliament. He said that it was through a legal proceeding that her MP position was subsequently abolished. He said that it is clear through the said incident that the EC does not have the power to act in such matters involving dual citizens.

“New legislation should be introduced to enable the EC to reject nominations of dual citizens. Even if such legislation is introduced, it is difficult to know whether someone is a dual citizen unless they declare it themselves. This is because no country reveals personal information about a citizen. With the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, it should also be looked into whether holding dual citizenship was a disqualification to become an MP at the time of the incumbent MPs’ appointment. All these matters are beyond the EC’s scope,” said Punchihewa.

Meanwhile, when contacted by The Morning, Parliament Assistant Secretary General (Legislative Services) K.A.T.K. Jayathilake said that Parliament is not in possession of information with regard to the MPs’ citizenship. He said that when the EC issued relevant gazette notifications declaring that a person has been elected an MP through an election or the National List, the Parliament accepts such persons as MPs.

“We don’t have any data on the matter of dual citizenship. We usually consider the gazette notification that is issued and then sent to us by the EC after the General Election. It stated that this particular person has become a MP from this electorate, or through a certain political party’s National List. After taking oaths, such persons who have been declared as MPs by the EC can function as MPs. If there is a need to make a decision regarding a MP based on the matter of their dual citizenship status, that has to be done through a court procedure,” he said.

Claiming that there are 10 MPs that hold dual citizenship, Opposition “independent” MP Patali Champika Ranawaka said on 23 October that all such MPs should resign in a respectable manner, given that dual citizens are not allowed to enter the Parliament, in line with the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed in Parliament on 21 October. He charged that although there is no issue in persons holding dual citizenship in cases such as bringing in investments, developing business ventures, and providing technical advice, dual citizens should not be allowed to be involved in processes where the people’s sovereign power is exercised.

The 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was passed in Parliament last week with a two-thirds majority. One of the key provisions in the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is disqualifying dual citizens from contesting elections.

China says it looks forward to enhancing ties with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka thanked former President Mahinda Rajapaksa after he congratulated Chinese President Xi Jinping on his re-election as the General Secretary of the Chinese Community Party (CPC).

“Thank you Your Excellency. We look forward to further enhancing the friendship and exchanges between the CPC and Podujana Party,” the Chinese Embassy tweeted.

Rajapaksa said that the re-election of Xi Jinping has confirmed the strength and courage his leadership holds for the people of China.

“My heartiest congratulations to H.E. Xi Jinping on his re-election as the CPC General Secretary. China has achieved great feats under his leadership & his re-election has confirmed the strenght & courage his leadership holds for the people of China,” Rajapaksa tweeted.

Xi Jinping secured a historic third term as China’s leader on Sunday and promoted some of his closest Communist Party allies, cementing his position as the nation’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party elected Xi as its General Secretary for another five-year term, Xinhua reported, tilting the country decisively back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among its elite.