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.