PAFFREL wants ceiling on election spending

By Ajith Siriwardana  

PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said yesterday laws should be brought in to specify the maximum amount of money that can be spent for elections by a candidate contesting an election.  

He told a news conference that laws in that regard should be passed in parliament at least before the next general election.  

Mr. Hettiarachchi said they formulated a draft in discussion with the elections commission for this purpose and added that the elections commission later on formulated another draft with the inputs of the draft prepared by the PAFFREL.  

“That draft was approved by the Cabinet and it is now at the Attorney Generals Department for final process. We hope that the laws can be passed in parliament before the next General election,’ he said.  

He said even though people expected that the money spent for elections would be reduced with the introduction of new electoral system, some candidates had spent millions of rupees at the last Local Government elections.  

“We have records that a candidate had spent Rs. 40 million at the last LG polls. We have taken legal action against him based on the information obtained under the Right to Information Act,” he said.    

A candidate had spent Rs. 40mn at the last LG polls. We have taken legal action against him based on information obtained under RTI