Election monitoring body, the People’s Action for a Free and Fair Election accuses the government of planning to postpone the upcoming local government elections owing to political reasons.
Speaking to NewsRadio, on the plans to postpone the local government elections by one year, PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said it was an insult to the voters.
Hettiarachchi said the government will miss out on assessing the public opinion on the policies it had implemented.
He said they received reports that a proposal to postpone local government elections has been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers adding the elections were supposed to be held at the end of the year or at the beginning of 2022.
He said the subject Minister has the authority to postpone elections by one year.
The PAFFREL Executive Director acknowledged the challenges in moving towards an election under the current COVID-19 situation and economic crisis adding however the 2020 parliamentary election was also held successfully under similar circumstances.
Hettiarachchi said the present administration’s decision to postpone elections was not a democratic move.
He said the public being deprived of the right to appoint their representatives poses a very serious concern.