Special committee to look into amending election laws

A committee comprised of officials from the Attorney General's Department, the Election Commission and representatives of the Ministry of Justice met to discuss ways in which the Presidential Elections Act can be amended. 

The committee met yesterday (17) under the patronage of Justice Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva. 

The committee noted the difficulties that the Election Commission faced when holding the 2019 presidential election owing to the large number of candidates who contested the election.

It was also pointed out that the vast majority of these candidates could not even poll 0.1% of the total valid votes cast, though their presence drove the cost of holding the election up significantly and caused severe inconvenience to the Election Commission and voters. 

The Justice Ministry stated that the minister instructed the committee to also look into ways that the legal impediments that are currently obstructing the holding of the local government elections can be removed.

He also instructed committee members to look into the possibility of introducing an amendment that would help expand the number of government servants who can apply for postal voting for the presidential and other elections, pointing out that many government servants cannot apply for postal voting at present. 

Once the new legal amendments are drafted, the Minister said they should be promptly presented to Cabinet for approval and then forwarded to the Legal Draftsman's Department.