Families get rice and pension arrears ahead of Sri Lanka’s upcoming local elections
President Ranil Wickremesinghe provides aid and payment of pension arrears to counter his declining popularity ahead of the 9 March vote. Meanwhile, the agency tasked with printing ballot papers is asking for advance payments from the Electoral Commission, which refuses. Transparency International Sri Lanka is getting ready to monitor the election.
Colombo (AsiaNews) – Last night the Sri Lankan cabinet approved President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s proposal “aimed at reducing the difficulties faced by the people and providing immediate relief in the face of the current economic situation.”
The decision comes at a time when the government's popularity is declining and local elections are approaching.
The aid provided by the government includes the delivery of 10 kg of rice to two million families, the payment of arrears to 18,000 state retirees, and the purchase of basic medicines.
“These measures aim to provide immediate relief to those in need and help alleviate the difficulties faced by vulnerable groups,” the President’s Office said in a statement.
“The government is committed to improving the standard of living for all its citizens, especially those who are most in need,” it added.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Department of Government Printing informed the Election Commission (EC) in writing that mail-in ballots for local elections, scheduled for 9 March, cannot be printed until relevant payments were made.
The EC responded by saying that in all elections in the country's history, payments were only made after the vote, noting that due to unavoidable circumstances ballots would not be issued today, 15 February, as planned.
Commissioner General of Elections Saman Sri Ratnayake explained that arrangements had been made to issue postal ballot papers at 1,116 centres, but that this had to be postponed to a later date.
Meanwhile, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) has begun monitoring the election campaign in 25 districts, urging Sri Lankans to report the misuse of public resources for election campaign purposes.
To this end, the TISL deployed 25 district election observers who will work with another 160 observers.
For TISL Executive Director Nadishani Perera, “the use of public resources for campaign purposes would constitute an abuse of public resources, amounting to corruption and should be dealt with seriously.”
For this reason, “We also urge all political parties, candidates, and independent groups to fulfil their legal obligations on reporting and be transparent regarding political campaign financing at the upcoming local government election.”
In addition, she added, these elections will be the first to be held since the adoption of a new campaign financing law earlier this year.
The latter is designed to prevent wealthy donors from exerting undue influence on parties and candidates and to reduce unfair practices such as vote buying.
Thus, Sri Lankans will have access to two telephone lines and the TISL’s website, in Tamil, Sinhala and English.
Once a complaint is filed, the TISL will collect the evidence, verify the information, and submit it to the EC for further action.
In Sri Lanka local government is divided into three levels: 24 municipal councils, 41 urban councils, and 276 district councils in rural areas.
The total number of eligible voters is around 16.7 million.
.png)
07/02/2019 17:28
