Sri Lanka local council inaugural meets in danger of not being able to convene

Colombo, May 31 (PTI) The scheduled inaugural meetings of the 338 local councils in Sri Lanka now face the danger of not being able to convene on June 2, election monitoring groups said here on Saturday.

The councils were to be convened officially on June 2 after the election that was held on May 6.

“At the moment it will be difficult to have all councils meeting on June 2. Only 160 of the 338 councils would be able to have their first sessions,” Manjula Gajanayaka of the Institute for Democratic and Electoral Reforms, a monitoring group, said.

He said the parties are yet to nominate their members despite the deadline of May 25 to do so by the Election Commission.

“Administrations of 178 councils would not be able to set up on June 2. Parties are yet to nominate their members especially the women quota representation,” Gajanayaka said.

The gazetting of names will take a week more and there will be another week since they could be convened.

At the inaugural meets of the 178 councils where no party had been able to secure 50 per cent, the assistant local government commissioners would preside over to elect the heads of the councils.

The ruling National People’s Power (NPP) of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the larger number of councils outright.

Both the ruling party and the opposition groups were busy trying to cobble out coalitions since the results were issued for those councils where no party had finished with majority.

The biggest battle is to gain the control of the capital’s Colombo Municipal Council. PTI CORR GSP GSP