Election Campaign Finance to be regulated soon- Punchihewa

By PRIYAN DE SILVA

Chairman of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, Nimal Punchihewa says the Attorney General has approved a draft Bill that seeks to regulate expenditure incurred by candidates at elections conducted under the local authorities elections ordinance, the provincial councils Elections Act, the Parliamentary Elections Act and the Presidential Elections Act, drawn up by the Election Commission of Sri Lanka.

A number of election monitoring bodies have pushed for regulating campaign finance. Manjula Gajanayake, the Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES), said that Sirithunga Jayasuriya, who contested the 2019 Presidential Election and former MP Ranjan Ramanayake, who contested the 2020 Parliamentary Election, were the only candidates who had disclosed their campaign expenditure.

Gajanayakec said that the Election Commission of Sri Lanka should setup a special committee to review the maximum amount each candidate and political party could spend on their campaign at each election and added that it was imperative that the source of funding is disclosed.

He also said that laws should be introduced to unseat anyone who is proven guilty of spending over and above the stipulated ceiling and added that introducing a regulatory mechanism to control campaign finance can undoubtedly change the Sri Lankan election landscape in the future.