Sri Lanka’s next national election will definitely be a presidential election as no funds have been allocated for a parliamentary election and there is no time for that in 2024, Education Minister Susil Premajanaytha said.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday March 26, Premajayantha rubbished speculation that parliamentary elections will precede a presidential poll.
“The presidential election is definitely coming. There is no time to hold a parliamentary election, and no funds have been allocated. Attempting to do that is futile,” he said.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) also indicated that a presidential poll will be held first. UNP general secretary Palitha Range Bandara said the president is obligated to follow the constitution.
“Anyone can make requests. When they make appeals in cricket, the umpire doesn’t rule everyone out. The president has to act according to the constitution. If he doesn’t do that, he may have to face a problem when he no longer has presidential immunity,” said Bandara.
“He won’t get caught in that,” he added.
President Wickremesinghe met with Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) national organiser Basil Rajapaksa last week where the matter had been discussed. Wickremesinghe had reportedly told his cabinet ministers later that the presidential election will be held first.
He has yet to officially announce his candidacy, however.
Rajapaksa and the SLPP, meanwhile, have been advocating for early parliamentary polls, arguing that whatever party that wins the presidential election will be able to consolidate power by winning big at the parliamentary elections that will follow. This would not be in the best interest of democracy, Rajapaksa claimed in one interview, though he did not voice this concern when the SLPP went onto secure a two thirds’ majority at the 2020 parliamentary polls after his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the 2019 presidential poll in an unprecedented landslide a few months earlier.