The Election Commission (EC) will make its announcement at the end of this month, calling for nominations for the upcoming presidential election, Commission Chairman N.M.R.L. Ratnayake told the Sunday Times yesterday.
Constitutionally, the Commission will be empowered to announce the date of nominations on Wednesday, July 17.
Mr. Ratnayake explained that the nomination-day announcement by the end of the month would give the EC sufficient time to prepare for the polls.
Opposition political parties and an election monitoring group have urged the EC to announce the date of nominations as early as possible. Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara visited the EC on Friday to urge it to announce the date of nominations at the earliest.
In the next few days, the EC will certify the electoral register to be used in the upcoming presidential election. According to the updated register for the first quarter of this year, some 17 million people will be eligible to vote.
As part of its initial preparations for the upcoming polls, the EC this week invited Inspector General of Police Deshabandu Tennakoon, Postmaster General Ruwan Sathkumara and Government Printer Gangani Liyanage to discuss matters related to the election.
Mr. Sathkumara said that during the election period, the Postal Department’s main duty would involve the distribution of polling cards.
He said the main issue his department faced in performing this duty was the shortage of postmen. He said he raised the matter during the discussion he had with the EC.
“The shortage of postmen is a major hurdle. However, we will do our utmost, given that this is a national election. We have proposed obtaining the services of retired postmen during the election period as a way to minimise the difficulties caused by the shortage of staff,” Mr. Sathkumara said.
An initial estimate has been made regarding the costs that will be incurred by the Department of Government Printing when printing ballot papers and other election material for the upcoming poll.
Government Printer Liyanage told the Sunday Times that, in terms of this estimate, the maximum amount could be between Rs. 600 million and Rs. 800 million, depending on the length of the ballot paper.
“However, there is a chance that this amount could also come down significantly. We won’t know the final amount until the nominations are completed,” she said.
The Government Printer said she had asked for police protection for her department during the period that election-related material would be printed.
The EC has already started obtaining details of public sector officers who will be deployed for election duties.
A circular issued by the EC noted that all public-sector officers, including principals and teachers, at the central government and provincial level, must be ready to be deployed on election duties.
Certain categories, however, are exempt from these duties. They include those holding the post of Secretary to a Cabinet or State Ministry or equivalent positions, officers who are disabled to an extent that prevents them from travelling long distances on election duties, officers who are due to retire within six months since the issuing of the circular, Buddhist monks and other clergy, pregnant officers, those who have infants that require breastfeeding, and officers suffering from an ailment whose severity prevents them from engaging in election duties.