PM Rajapaksa urges NEC to announce election date

COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Saturday, urged the country's polls body to announce the date of the parliamentary election, amidst warnings that a delayed poll can lead to a constitutional crisis. "They have no power to postpone the poll without fixing another date," the Prime Minister said in a statement. His remarks came days after the President's Office turned down a request made by the national election commission (NEC) to seek a supreme court ruling on the date of the election. The island nation's law requires Parliament - which was dissolved on March 2 - to reconvene within three months, meaning the election will have to be held by late May. However, the election commission has said that this would be unlikely considering the current situation surrounding COVID-19 which has infected at least 244 in the country. “The date for fixing the poll is the responsibility of the Election Commission,” President's Secretary P.B. Jayasundara said. Rajapaksa echoed similar sentiments to that of the President, stating that the polls body "is mandatorily required to fix another day for the poll", under Section 24 (3) of the parliamentary elections act. The general election which was scheduled to be held on April 25 was postponed by the NEC following the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country. "The Elections Commission should first fulfil its duties under Section 24(3) and thereafter take up for discussion any outstanding issues," the Prime Minister remarked. He accused the opposition of sabotaging the government's anti-virus campaign and rejected calls to reconvene Parliament. "The yahapalana government delayed local government elections by nearly three years," Rajapaksa observed referring to the conduct of the current opposition when it was in power. He signalled the government's intention to relax the lockdown style curfew restrictions which have been in place for five weeks to stem the spread of the virus. "Things have to come back to normal sooner or later. In eleven of the 25 administrative districts, there have been no coronavirus patients at all," the Prime Minister stressed. Critics have lashed out at the government for attempting to relax restrictions, with the world health organization also warning that lifting lockdown measures could result in "undesirable consequences". However, Rajapaksa insisted that the polls body should first decide on the date of the election and then take up any matters for future discussions. The election commission is scheduled to meet next Monday to arrive at a final decision.