Mahinda Rajapaksa, the prime minister, called on the Election Commission to fix a new parliamentary election date, despite threat of coronavirus.
Colombo Page reported that the Prime Minister issued a statement stating that “when the poll cannot be held on the day fixed by the President, the Elections Commission is mandatorily required to fix another day for the poll.”
Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections were scheduled to take place on April 25 but were postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Responding to the PM’s call, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) wrote to the Election Commission urging them to refrain from fixing a new date for the elections as the threat of coronavirus persists.
“The conducting of an election will involve large public gatherings, not only on the day(s) of election, but in the lead up to it in the form of campaigning,” the letter said.
“Until and unless both local and global health experts clearly indicate that it is safe to do so, conducting an election in the present circumstances will be extremely dangerous and irresponsible,” they added.
See the full letter here.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
