Gazette notification of electoral wards out by Feb 9

The gazette notification announcing electoral wards is to be released on February 8 or 9, clearing the way for conducting the local authorities’ election, officials said yesterday.

Local Government and Provincial Councils ministry secretary Kamal Pathmasiri has given this assurance to the chairman of the Election Commission. He has also assured him that the translation errors in the report submitted by the Delimitation Review Committee would be corrected today.

Mr. Deshapriya told Daily Mirror that he received an assurance that the gazette notification announcing the number of members to be elected under the new electoral system would be released during the following week.

Under the new system, which is a mix of the Proportional Representation System and the First Past the Post System, the number of members to be elected will increase.

“We have identified around 50 shortcomings in the new election law. They seem minor in nature. Yet they have to be rectified. There are some discrepancies between the Sinhala version and the English. For example, there is an error in the translation of the term’ Polling District’ in Sinhala. According to the law, whenever there is a discrepancy, the Sinhala text prevails. So it has to be looked into,” he said.

He said he requested the Legal Draftsman’s Department to look into the matter.(Kelum Bandara)