Focus on COVID-19, not elections : PM Rajapaksa

COLOMBO (News1st): Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that attention should be paid towards the coronavirus instead of elections, amidst a war of words between government and opposition parties. In a statement on Sunday, the Prime Minister accused opposition parties of urging to reconvene Parliament as an attempt to thwart the government's battle against the disease. "It is evident that the objective of the opposition is to tarnish the government's image before the election," Rajapaksa said. Opposition parties have urged President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to reconvene the old Parliament instead of convening Parliament after the election, pointing out that the government cannot handle state expenses after April 30, due to the absence of a national budget. "Under Section 150 (3) of the constitution, the President has powers to allocate funds for expenses which have not been approved by Parliament," the Prime Minister said. Sri Lanka's election commission has rescheduled the parliamentary elections to June 20, revising initial plans to conduct the poll on April 25, after the COVID-19 crisis started spreading in the country. "The election commission has said that this date too could be delayed upon the recommendations of health officials," Rajapaksa noted. The Prime Minister, responding to allegations of a lack of transparency on how foreign aid has been spent, said that funds are received by the treasury through the central bank and that they are spent according to the due process. "The opposition can question the government on how funds were spent since the date of dissolving Parliament until the date of convening the new Parliament," he noted.