Sri Lanka, April 23 -- In mid-March this year, the Commissioner of Elections announced the long overdue local government (LG) elections would be held on May 6 this year. God willing, this time around, the LG elections will hopefully be held in a timely fashion. The term of office for 340 out of 341 local government authorities expired on March 19, 2023.
However, LG elections, originally scheduled for 2022, were postponed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa due to the economic crisis. He extended the term by a year. The Commissioner of Elections set March 9, 2023 as the new date for the holding of LG elections.
Our immediate past President Wickremesinghe too, did not hold LG elections on the due date. Wickremesinghe argued elections should not...