Colombo, Supreme Court: presidential elections cannot be postponed

A petition filed by a lawyer was rejected, while the government itself fears an alleged regulatory inconsistency in arriving at a one-year extension. The Electoral Commission complains that it has not yet received all the necessary funds for the vote, which is supposed to be held by 16 October. Civil society: "Let's put an end to these manoeuvres and set a date for the elections".

Colombo (AsiaNews) - Confusion over election deadlines continues to dominate the scene in Sri Lanka. The Supreme Court yesterday dismissed a rights petition filed by lawyer Aruna Laksiri, seeking an order to prevent the presidential elections from being held on the grounds that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution would not be properly passed by Parliament.

The verdict came after the Council of Ministers had in the past few days passed a resolution put forward by President Ranil Wickremasinghe himself calling for an amendment to Article 83 (b) of the Constitution with a reform bill that would correct an alleged inconsistency on the president's term of office, opening up the possibility of an extension from five to six years.

The election of the previous president Gotabaya Rajapaksa - deposed by the street riots of summer 2022 and replaced without an election by Wickremesinghe - had taken place in 2019.

According to the current Constitution, therefore, presidential elections should be held between 17 September and 16 October 2024 and parliamentary elections by August 2025. Behind the ongoing manoeuvres, however, many civil society representatives, political analysts and citizens - remembering that elections have been repeatedly postponed in recent years - wonder whether this will not ultimately be the fate for the presidential elections as well.

In 2023, Wickremesinghe postponed the local elections on the grounds of lack of funds, a decision that caused controversy and raised questions about the government's commitment to democratic processes. Also in 2017, during his tenure as prime minister, Wickremesinghe had led an effort to postpone provincial council elections.

Criticism was also levelled at the Election Commission for its alleged inability to set the date for the presidential elections, even though it had confirmed on 9 May that they would take place as scheduled.

In this delicate situation, lawyers Shirantha Vithanage and Nimalka Gamage remind AsiaNews that 'the Commissioner General for Elections, Saman Sri Ratnayake, has stated that the presidential election is the only one for which the Constitution sets a timetable and therefore cannot be postponed. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sworn in as president on 18 November 2019.

Thus, the Constitution stipulates that the next presidential election should be held between September and October. And even if the President dissolves Parliament in the first week of September, the Commission has the option of holding the general and presidential elections on dates close to each other."

However, Commissioner Ratnayake complains that he has asked for 20 billion rupees to organise the presidential elections and the local or provincial council elections. 'We have only received 10 billion rupees,' he explains. 'If the government decides to hold the municipal or provincial elections, the Treasury will have to provide us with the necessary funds.

"We ask the government to stop these manoeuvres, ' lawyer Sunil Watagala tells AsiaNews. With its ruling, the Supreme Court emphasised that presidential elections, as guaranteed by the Constitution, cannot be prevented. We are grateful that this confusing situation has been clarified, now let us proceed to set the date for the elections'.

(co-authored by Melani Manel Perera)

Photo: Flickr / World Economic Forum