SJB to protest opposite Presidential Secretariat against bid to put off polls

By Akitha Perera and Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) will hold a demonstration on February 20 in Colombo opposite the Presidential Secretariat and the Ministry of Finance, former MP Mujibur Rahman said.Rahman said those two institutions were led by officials who are trying to postpone elections.

“The Ranil-Rajapaksa government is trying to delay elections because it knows it will lose them. Previous governments too postponed elections but no one has resorted to such underhanded methods. No other government has declared bankruptcy to postpone elections. No other government has used state officials blatantly to hinder the Elections Commission,” he said.

Rahman said that Sri Lankans had suffered greatly under the Ranil-Rajapaksa government and they had tolerated the hardships knowing an election was coming near.

“If the government postpones elections, the people will take to the streets. It won’t be pretty when this happens,” he said.

The former MP said the Election Commission had again urged the Ministry of Finance to provide it with the necessary funding for the LG polls.Head of the Commission Nimal Punchihewa said the EC had asked money from the Finance Ministry on an earlier occasion as well.