Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022 (File)
Colombo:
Sri Lanka’s election body said on Tuesday that local body elections, scheduled for April 25, have now been postponed indefinitely due to a severe shortage of funds.
The Election Commission made the announcement a day after its officials held a meeting with Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene and members of major political parties.
Election Commission Director General Saman Sri Ratnayake said that the next date for holding the election would be announced only after the treasury confirms the disbursement of funds.
Local body elections, which were earlier scheduled for 9 March, were postponed to 25 April due to a number of reasons linked to Sri Lanka’s current economic crisis.
Last month, the Election Commission had suspended postal voting for local body elections due to paucity of funds.
In March, Sri Lankan government printer Gangani Liyanaj said that the inability to print ballot papers to conduct postal voting from 21 to 24 February had forced the Election Commission to postpone the election.
Mr Liyanaj said that by the time the elections were postponed, he had received only 40 million rupees from the Treasury out of the estimated full cost of 500 million rupees.
Due to the ongoing economic crisis, elections to appoint new administrations in 340 local councils for a four-year term were postponed from March last year.
The International Monetary Fund has approved a US$3 billion bailout program to help debt-ridden Sri Lanka overcome its economic crisis and catalyze financial support from other development partners, a “historic milestone” by Colombo in this critical period. It is a welcome move.
Sri Lanka was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange reserves, sparking a major political and humanitarian crisis in the island nation.
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