General election date Final decision this week

• Preferential numbers to be gazetted today 
• Requests Health Services DG to regularise guidelines in gazette 

By Lahiru Pothmulla 

A final decision on the general election date will be made this week, Elections Commission (EC) Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said yesterday. 

Addressing a news briefing, he said the gazette notification with preferential numbers for those contesting the election would be issued today. 

“COVID-19 is an invisible enemy. Just as much as candidates requested the commission to hold the election without further delay, we received letters from others asking us ‘not to kill them’ by going ahead with the poll. However, these requests have been made before clusters became inactive. We discussed the situation with Health Services Director General Dr. Anil Jasinghe, Sri Lanka Medical Association President Professor Indika Karunathilaka and relevant officials who observed the mock poll on Sunday in Ambalangoda. We met WHO Country Representative Dr. Razia Narayan Pendse yesterday too. They all said we could go ahead with the election whilst strictly adhering to health regulations,” he said. 

On a different note, he said the EC expected to hold a few more meetings with political parties and other groups within this week. 

“We have held many decisions up to now. We expect to circulate health guidelines among political parties. We request the Health Services Director General to regularise the guidelines through a gazette and enforce them to the effect of election rules and regulations,” he said.