• EC hopeful of adequate finances 

Claiming that there is no possibility of not holding the Presidential Election which is scheduled to be held this year, the Election Commission (EC) stated that it must, however, be held before 16 October, and expressed their trust in receiving relevant financial provisions.

Although President and National Policies Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe recently said that both the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections would be held during the course of this year, certain parties – in particular opposition groups – have claimed that the Government may attempt to postpone the said elections in a similar manner to the Local Government (LG) Elections.

However, EC Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake told The Daily Morning that the Presidential Election must be held before 16 October as per the relevant provisions of the Constitution. “There is no way to postpone the Presidential Election. There is a clear date on or before which it should be held. We have requested the allocation of relevant funds, and Rs. 10 billion have been allocated for this purpose. It will be given to us in due time and we will hold the election.”

Opposition Parliamentarian Prof. G.L. Peiris recently claimed that the current Government led by President Wickremesinghe had resorted to seeking to implement several programmes such as revising the parliamentary electoral system, abolishing the office of the executive president, and amending the Constitution without electing a new Parliament, in order to avoid holding elections, adding however that the Government had no mandate to do so.

Having entered Parliament through the United National Party’s (UNP) National List, and initially functioning as an Opposition Parliamentarian, Wickremesinghe, in mid-2022, was appointed as Prime Minister in the face of massive public protests against the then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He was thereafter elected as President in a parliamentary vote held following the resignation of Rajapaksa from the Presidency in July 2022.

UNP Chairman, Government MP Wajira Abeywardana had recently said that it was best for a referendum to be held instead of a Presidential Election in order to extend the tenure of Wickremesinghe, a statement that saw great criticism.