Attorney General to Parliament on resolving Provincial Council election issues

The Parliament's Special Committee has decided to summon the heads of the Attorney General's Department and the Election Commission to inquire into the legal issues and obstacles currently arising in relation to holding the Provincial Council election. This decision was made at the first meeting of the Special Committee investigating the Provincial Council election, held in Parliament on the 17th, chaired by Minister Vijitha Herath.

The main responsibility assigned to this committee is to study under which electoral system the Provincial Council election should be held and to submit the necessary recommendations and proposals regarding it.

Commenting on this, the Chairman of the Committee pointed out that legal obstacles have been created for holding the election due to the fact that the delimitation of constituencies related to the implementation of the mixed proportional representation system introduced by Act No. 17 of 2017 has not yet been completed. Meanwhile, Members of Parliament representing the opposition emphasized that many problems have arisen due to the inactivity of Provincial Council institutions, which govern many extremely important sectors such as health and education, for nearly nine years. Therefore, those MPs proposed that the election be held expeditiously under the existing old proportional electoral system, and thereafter, steps be taken to amend the electoral system.

Minister Vijitha Herath, Chairman of the Committee, further stated that a broad discussion should be created about the importance of formulating a new electoral system that ensures mandatory female representation as well as youth representation in this election. Accordingly, the Attorney General and officials of the Election Commission are scheduled to be summoned for the next committee meeting to ascertain their views on the current legal impediments. This special parliamentary committee must submit its report to Parliament within three months from the date of its initial meeting.

Deputy Ministers Arun Hemachandra, Attorney Sunil Watagala, and Muneer Mulaffer participated in this initial discussion held recently. In addition, the meeting was held with the participation of committee member MPs R.M. Ranjith Madduma Bandara, Mano Ganesan, Panakkian Rajapuththiran Rasamanickam, President's Counsel M. Nizam Kariapper, Chandana Sooriyarachchi, Dharmapriya Wijesinghe, and Lakshman Nipunaarachchi.