Category: News

Prof. G.L. Peiris, a member of the Freedom People’s Congress said holding a referendum is a must to delay elections. Holding a press conference yesterday, Peiris said the Supreme Court in a previous judgement has held a referendum that must be held if Local Government elections are to be postponed.

“The Supreme Court has clearly set out that a referendum is mandatory to delay elections,” he said.

The MP also emphasised that the Supreme Court has delivered several landmark judgements relating to Local Government elections and that the polls therefore must be held before 20 March.

“According to the law, in order to establish the 340 local governments across the country before March 20, the election must be held at the end of February or the beginning of March,” Peiris said.

He also slammed the comments made by officials of the election commission that claimed it will have to adhere to any proposal passed in parliament to postpone the Local Government elections. He also asserted that the election cannot be postponed by a parliamentary resolution because the sovereign power of Sri Lanka is not with the Parliament but with the people.

Peiris also refused to accept the Government’s claim of not having the necessary funds to hold the elections and said if the claim is accepted it will only lead to the demise of democracy.

“If the current President who has no mandate claims there are no funds to hold elections then even he would be able to stay in power forever,” the MP noted.

“If the Government takes any step to postpone elections, we will express our concerns and raise an alarm on the harm being caused to the country’s democracy before the international community,” the MP warned.

Former President of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa has applied for restoration of his US citizenship, the Hindustan Times reported.

Quoting a foreign newspaper, the Hidustan Times reported, “This comes as he failed to get asylum in any country. Gotabaya Rajapaksa had fled Sri Lanka in July last year. He then returned after nearly two months. The US government is yet to consider the request”.

The Hindustan Times report also stated, “An appeal by his lawyers to the US government — more pointedly the Department of State to restore his citizenship, which he renounced to contest the November 2019 presidential election, has still not been considered.”

There was no immediate comment from Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva says that the IMF is working very hard to press for urgent debt resolution for countries like Sri Lanka, engaging with traditional creditors such as the Paris Club and non-traditional creditors including China and India before it grows into a bad surprise on the world economy.

During an interview with CBS News, the IMF Chief highlighted that, so far the countries that are in distress as a result of the debt borrowed in dollars are not systemically significant to trigger a debt crisis.

In response to a question regarding whether the IMF notices the governments of low-income countries are collapsing with defaults, and how much of a contagion it will become, Ms. Georgieva stated that countries such as Chad, Ethiopia, Zambia, Ghana, Lebanon, Suriname and Sri Lanka are very important for their people to find the resolution to the debt problem, adding that the risk of contagion is not as high.

“25% of emerging markets are trading in distressed territory. Then the world economy maybe for a bad surprise. And this is why the IMF working very hard to press for debt resolution for these countries and we have engaged in the traditional creditors, the Paris Club, and the non-traditional creditors China India, Saudi Arabia. Our call is very simple urgency, and we have to act”, she said.

Meanwhile, the IMF Chief further warned that a third of the global economy will be in recession this year, pointing out that 2023 will be “tougher” than last year as the US, EU and China see their economies slow.

It comes as the war in Ukraine, rising prices, higher interest rates and the spread of Covid in China weigh on the global economy, she expressed.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is currently holding discussions with other centre-left parties in the Opposition on the possibility of forming an alliance under the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) or forming a new alliance altogether to contest the upcoming Local Government election.

Speaking to The Morning, SLFP General Secretary Dayasiri Jayasekara said yesterday (1) that his party is currently negotiating with “independent” MPs, including Dullas Alahapperuma, on the possibilities of forming alliances.

“We have already started negotiations with all the other parties, including the Dullas group, and we are still discussing with them. In the meantime, we are talking to the faction led by Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila as well. There are a further seven to eight parties with whom we are discussing now. We intend to finalise this as soon as possible. We are moving forward as an alliance,” he added.

When queried if the SLFP would form any alliance with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) he said: “No, we will not, because we mean to have a centre-left movement with all other such parties, and not with the SJB.”

When queried on the possibilities of forming alliances to contest at the LG polls, he noted: “We are still in discussions. The process is underway. We are first considering forming the alliance under the UPFA. It is our main alliance and has been a very powerful alliance since 2004 under the betel leaf symbol. If that doesn’t happen, we intend to form a new alliance,” he added.

Jayasekara noted that his party will follow the 25% women’s representation quota and try its best to get as many youths into the nomination list as well.

Meanwhile, SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara told The Morning yesterday that the SJB would contest along with other parties as an alliance under the SJB symbol. In response to a query about the parties that are expected to align with the SJB, he said: “That has not been finalised yet.”

When enquired if the SJB expects to form any alliance with the SLFP, he said: “No, we have not discussed it yet.”

The Election Commission is expected to call for LG polls nominations within this week.

All political parties that were in alliance with the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) will compete in the upcoming local government elections under the Pohottuwa symbol, SLPP General Secretary Sagara Kariyawasam said.

Addressing the media at the weekly media briefing, he said the focus of the whole country is on the upcoming local government polls.

The elections commission has already announced that the relevant gazette notification on the above matter will be issued immediately. As a party, we have come to a collective decision with all other allegiance parties to contest the election under the Pohottuwa symbol.

We will start our work as soon as the gazette notification is issued. We also had some discussions with the United National Party (UNP). But now we have reached a decision to compete under Pohottuwa symbol. However, the majority of local government bodies are contesting under the banner of Pohottuwa.

“A direct decision has not yet been taken on an alliance with the UNP. There has been an exchange of views between the two parties. Apart from that, no decision has been taken as yet. “However, the negotiations are not over either,” Kariyawasam said.

“We believe that the SLPP can win the majority of divisions in the upcoming local government elections,” he expressed hope.

“As a party, we are always in the position that we should not burden the people by increasing the fuel or electricity bills.” We also protested as a party when the former energy minister increased the price of fuel. “We have always held the opinion that the people should be given the opportunity to rise economically without being burdened by the increase in prices and the decision should be taken only after that,” Kariyawasam added.