President claims EC decision to hold LG polls unacceptable

By Saman Indrajith

President Ranil Wickremesinghe informed the Parliament yesterday (23) that the National Election Commission (EC) had not taken any official decision on a date to hold the local council polls.Making a special statement to Parliament, the President said that the election has not been postponed.

“There was no election in the first place for it to be postponed,” he said, adding that a motion had been filed before the Supreme Court against the Finance Ministry Secretary and other officials. The claim by the Election Commission that the Finance Ministry Secretary had informed the Treasury that the Ministry was unable to provide necessary funds for the election was false.

The President said that decisions pertaining to the election had been taken by two members of the EC while the other three members were made to accept the decision, showing a significant difference of opinion. “This proves that no official decision has been taken pertaining to the Local Government election,” the President said, asking how the relevant authorities could release funds when an official decision was taken pertaining to the Local Government election by the National Election Commission.

The President said there was no intention to postpone elections, and the government did not have funds for the election due to the current economic situation but discussions could be held to find a way to resolve the matter.

“There is no intention to suspend the election. There are no sufficient funds now. And now there is no election as well. There are no funds to conduct an election and now no election to conduct even if there are funds. What are we arguing about here?” the President questioned.

Stating that the Parliament had the power to appoint a select committee to look into the matter, the President said the committee must be appointed and present facts to the Supreme Court to resolve the matter pertaining to the Local Government election.

The President said that he had called on SJB MP Mujibur Rahuman and instructed him not to resign from the MP post. “I told him that he would lose his seat. I had concerns because it was I who brought him to parliament. He did not listen to me and I am not going to talk about it further,” the President said.

“In December 2022, I informed the Election Commission members that it was not feasible to conduct an election under the current circumstances due to the economic crisis and an election could be held after the number of Local Government members was reduced to 5,000,” the President said.

After the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, the National Election Commission had been identified as a caretaker Commission operational on a temporary basis and reports to Parliament, the President said. During a meeting with the Commission members along with the Prime Minister and Attorney General, a suggestion was made to hold the election on 23 Dec 2022, but the Commission informed it was not possible as a decision had not been taken on the date for the acceptance of nominations.

Even though the Attorney General advised the Commission to discuss and nominate a date for election nominations, it had not done so due to a difference of opinion among the Election Commission members, the President said.

Wickremesinghe said that when the budget 2023 was prepared eight billion rupees had been allocated for the election. After the budget was passed, the Election Commission had issued a letter requesting Rs. five billion when the government was looking at a budget between eight to twelve billion rupees.

“The Commission stated that it could conduct the election with five billion rupees while the Police stated that they required more money to conduct the election taking into consideration fuel prices, etc.,” the president said.

The President pointed out that another official had signed certain important documents requesting funds for the election on behalf of the Chairman of the National Election Commission, and it was a violation of the Constitution.

President Wickremesinghe said that the letters sent by the Election Commission requesting funds had not explicitly mentioned that another officer had been vested with powers to make such requests and sign on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission.