• EC assures Prez Poll during ‘time frame’ even if P’ment Poll is also held this yr.: Prez Poll nominations by late July or early Aug.

The Election Commission (EC) assured that the Presidential Election will be held within the stipulated time, during the period from 17 September to 17 October of this year (2024), even if the Parliamentary Election will also have to be held this year.

It was recently reported that a faction of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Parliamentarians are of the view that the Parliamentary Election should be held before the Presidential Election.

Speaking to The Daily Morning on the matter, EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Rathnayake said that they would have no other option but to hold the Parliamentary Election if the President dissolves Parliament this year. "If Parliament is dissolved, we cannot say no with regard to the conduct of the Parliamentary Election. We will have to hold it." 

When queried as to whether there would be any issues in the event two elections are held during the course of a few months, he said: "Even if there will be issues, we have to manage them in appropriate ways and do it." He further said that having to hold the Parliamentary Election would not have any impact on the Presidential Election, and that the latter Election would be held in due time. "The Presidential Election is to be held between 17 September and 17 October of this year. We will make the declaration of the date of the Election and the acceptance of nominations by late July or early August. We are currently working on it."

President Ranil Wickremesinghe late last year (2023) said that the Government would facilitate both the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections this year, but the President Media Division recently stated that the Presidential Election would be held this year while the Parliamentary Election will be held next year (in 2025). Against that backdrop, it was recently reported that the SLPP's National Organiser Basil Rajapaksa had conveyed the Party's view that the Parliamentary Election should be held first, to the President, during a recent discussion. However, the United National Party led by Wickremesinghe is of the view that it is the Presidential Election that should be held first.