SJB to boycott select committee over delay in Provincial Council elections

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ajith P. Perera has accused the Government of seeking to delay Provincial Council elections and said Opposition members will boycott the Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to consider the issue.

Perera said one of the key promises made during the last presidential election was to restore Provincial Councils and hold elections within a year.

He said Provincial Councils had now remained without elected representatives for years and argued that continuing to run them under unelected administrators was neither appropriate nor democratic.

According to Perera, the Select Committee had met for about a month without reaching agreement on how to proceed with the elections. He alleged that meetings had repeatedly been postponed or disrupted and said Opposition members serving on the Committee had decided last week not to attend future sittings.

The Opposition had also objected in Parliament to a proposal to extend the Committee’s mandate by another three months, he said.

Perera argued that the elections could be held under the previous electoral system or under proposals already put forward by the Election Commission.

“If the Government says it has the support of 175 MPs, why can it not hold the Provincial Council elections?” he asked.

He also criticised President Anura Kumara Dissanayake for failing to address the issue in recent political speeches, including at meetings in Beruwala and Polonnaruwa.

Perera further accused the Government of remaining silent on its earlier promises to introduce a new Constitution and abolish the executive presidency, while moving ahead with a 22nd Amendment to the existing Constitution.

He said the President had spoken extensively on other issues over the past year but had avoided addressing what Perera described as two major pledges: holding Provincial Council elections and introducing a new Constitution.

Perera described that approach as “political dishonesty”.