Party Leaders have failed to reach a final agreement on whether the Provincial Council Elections should be held under the old or new electoral system, despite several rounds of meetings over the past few months,
The Party Leaders’ Meeting held yesterday morning at the Parliament Complex also ended inconclusively, Parliament sources said. However, reverting to the old electoral system had been discussed and party leaders except those representing the SLFP and JVP had been in agreement with it.
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya was absent as he was undertaking a foreign visit. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe chaired the meeting attended by all party leaders.
Ministers Nimal Siripala de Silva and Faiszer Musthapha and Deputy Minister Lasantha Alagiyawanna participated in the meeting representing the SLFP, while Ministers Akila Viraj Kariyawasam and Kabir Hashim participated representing the UNP along with the PM.
As there was no final decision, the Party Leaders decided to meet again next Wednesday (August 1).
Speaking to the Daily News JVP Leader Anura Dissanayake said his party prefers the new electoral system sans preferential votes which was used in the recent LG Poll. MP Dissanayake had argued that reverting to the old system would mean a waste of all the deliberations and efforts made to introduce the new system.
The UNP Working Committee which met on Wednesday discussed extensively the possibility of holding the PC Elections under the old electoral system to avoid further delay.
The elections for the Eastern, North Central and Sabaragamuwa PCs are already due, and the term of another three PCs namely the Central, Northern and North Western is due to end by September. Party Leaders on July 20 agreed to schedule the PC elections on January 5, 2019 if Parliament could arrive at an agreement on matters relating to the elections before November.