Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka called for “timely elections” in Sri Lanka, after six out of the nine provincial councils on the island have had their term expire without any new voting.
“Many people will be disappointed that the term in office of a sixth of #SriLanka’s nine Provincial Councils has expired without voting for new representatives taking place or planned,” tweeted James Dauris.
“Timely #elections are key to ensuring that the values of #democracy flourish in our countries,” he added.
Earlier this year Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government was ready to hold provincial council elections "in due time" and was "dedicated to conduct all the elections on schedule".
Opposition groups have criticised the government for delaying the election arguing that the government is stalling as it fears a widespread defeat.
In the Northern Provincial Council, which finished its term from 2013 this week, Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran criticised the Sri Lanakn government and Tamil National Alliance for failing to deliver on promises made to the Tamil people in his final address.