New system for elections already passed into legislation with a two-thirds majority:
The SLFP Central Committee will stand with the decision to hold the upcoming Local Government elections under the new mixed system, SLFP Media Spokesperson and Highways State Minister Dilan Perera said yesterday.
“The UNP has no right to go back to the old system. The UNP not only promised the late Ven. Sobitha Thera but also said so when the 19th Amendment was passed. They promised to change the electoral system then,” he said.
“We have already passed into legislation a new system for Local Government elections with a two-thirds majority and if they want to go back to the old system, they have to change it back with a two thirds majority,” he stressed. He was speaking at a media briefing held at the SLFP Headquarters.
The SLFP State Minister said the UNP could not use the delay in the delimitation report as an excuse to go back to the Preferential voting system and that they urged Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils, Faizer Mustapha, the Elections Commissioner and other officials to hold the local government elections by end of March next year.
Leader of the House and Minister of Highways and Higher Education, Lakshman Kiriella in the meantime informed Parliament on December 03 that the forthcoming LG elections could be held under the old system if all political parties agreed.
JVP Leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake had quipped that the new electoral system should be included in the new Constitution. This proposal was seconded by Joint Opposition (JO) member, Dulles Allahapperuma.
Perera however pointed out that this agreement between certain members of the JO and the JVP wan tantamount to working with the UNP to break the SLFP.
As the struggle to hold the local government elections continues, the SLFP similar to the UNP has ramped up its membership drive and build-up of the party at the grassroots.
“We have formed close to 100 electoral organizations around the country and are expanding to the North and East soon. We have formed Party youth wings in every district except two and will soon establish them at the electoral level too. The party has also convened Bhikku organizations at the electoral level and hope to hold the Bhikku convention by March 2017,”Perera said.
Minister of Sports, Dayasiri Jayasekara who also spoke at the media briefing said cadre numbers were on the rise as even former UNPers were queing up for SLFP membership, “Those in the villages are disappointed with the UNP”, said the Minister. Perera in the meantime added that the SLFP was building the party and not trying to break the UNP, “We have no deals, don’t bend the law for Basil or make cases of corruption go away,”he said.
“We thank the Attorney General for filing fresh indictments, they were trying to free him using technical issues. Basil has escaped so far because of the deals he has with the UNP,”he alleged.