PM requested to hold PC polls under old system

Democratic People's Front (DPF) leader and Minister Mano Ganesan said today they had requested Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to hold the upcoming provincial council election under the preferential voting system.

He said they had made this request at a meeting parties representing the minority communities such as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Democratic People's Front (DPF), the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) and Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) had with the Prime Minister at Temple Trees yesterday.

“The ward-based system has created uncertainty in the country and now we have a situation where we have been unable to set up an administration in certain local government bodies because of the complexities existing in the new electoral system,” he said.

The minister said the government had good intentions in mind when they brought in the new electoral system, but it had some shortcomings adding that certain amendments should be brought in to improve the implementation of the system.

He said Minister Faiszer Musthapha, who participated in the discussion, had stressed the need to hold the forthcoming election under the new system with amendments and added that most of the party leaders had objected to it saying that the PC elections should not be postponed until the amendments were made but held under the previous system.

He said they had agreed to finalize the matter on April 19 when they are due to meet again. (Ajith Siriwardana and Indika Sri Aravinda)