Committee appointed to make recommendations on conducting PC polls

Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya appointed a Committee headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to make necessary recommendations on conducting Provincial Council (PC) election in January next year. The move came in the wake of the Report of the Delimitation Committee for the Delimitation of electorates in Provincial Councils was defeated at the Parliament yesterday.

The issue was discussed at length at the Committee on Parliamentary Affairs yesterday and the Speaker's view was that the provincial elections should not be postponed for any reason, the Speaker's Office said in a statement.  Speakers Office said that Committee was appointed in keeping up with the section 4 (12) of the bill.

In addition to the party leaders, the Speaker also exchanged ideas in length with the chairmen of the Elections Commission and the Delimitation Committee for an early election.The relevant parties have agreed to provide full support to hold the provincial elections in January 2018 if the committee appointed by the Speaker and headed by the Prime Minister can provide relevant recommendations by mid-October.

Accordingly, the Speaker with the agreement of party leaders will nominate the five-member committee in the next few days. The other members to be appointed in addition to the Prime Minister will be intellectuals who are non-politicians knowledgeable in the field. The Speaker stressed that Parliament would give full support to conduct an early election in due time.