• EC Chair notes that SLFP is yet to be placed separately, cites ongoing discussions 
• Parties with intra-party conflicts placed separately pending judicial proceedings conclusion  

The Election Commission (EC) stated that several recognised political parties have had to be set aside from the relevant list due to internal crises within the said parties.

According to the official website of the EC, there are 84 recognised political parties in Sri Lanka.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Rathnayake said that there have been internal crises due to various issues such as problems in appointing the secretary of several recognised political parties. “We have had to set aside several parties from the list of recognised political parties. There are crises in them due to various reasons. For example, some parties have appointed two secretaries. In such cases, we cannot conclude who should be accepted as the secretary.”

He also said that giving nominations for members of such political parties in elections is also problematic. “It is the secretary of a certain political party who deals with the EC regarding nominations. Some political parties have two secretaries. In such cases, we cannot decide which secretary's submissions should we base our decision on in issuing nominations? Therefore, they have been placed separately in the recognised political parties' list until the internal crises are resolved through judicial proceedings.”

When queried as to whether the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which is currently in a state of crisis, is also among such Parties, Rathnayake said that they have not yet added it to the list, since there are ongoing discussions pertaining to the matter. With an interim injunction being issued by the Colombo District Court preventing former President and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena from functioning as the Party Chairperson, a problematic situation has arisen within the SLFP. The EC recently stated that if the crisis situation within the SLFP continues, there may be a problematic situation in issuing nominations for SLFP members in the upcoming elections.