Minister of Megapolis and Western Development Patali Champika Ranwaka says the elections for all nine provincial councils should be held at the same time.
Minister Ranwaka made this statement at a meeting held at the Waters Edge with the civil society representatives, who joined forces to defeat the recent political coup to establish an anti-democratic government.
Expressing his views further, the Minister said the issue with the provincial council elections is that the political parties have to come to an agreement on the electoral system for the election and pass the relevant bill.
“My opinion is that elections for all nine provinces should be held at the same time. In the past because of the war, elections were held separately. Already elections for some PCs delayed for a year, and the others are yet to be dissolved. All these should be conducted under one single voting system,” he said.
The Minister recalled that a new mixed electoral system of first-past-the-post system and proportional representation system was introduced for local government elections.
“However, for the provincial elections, a problem has risen because political parties opposed the divisions under the mixed system. The parties need to get together and come to a consensus on an electoral system whether to hold elections under the new mixed system or old proportional representation system,” he said.
The Minister urged the political parties to make a decision soon and hold the elections for all nine provinces simultaneously.
