Election Commission has said that elections will be held between Sept. 17 and Oct. 16. The commission could declare the exact date of the election any time from now and before the 20th of August
seems that the commission is not interested in declaring the date of the elections soon. It is widely speculated that the Election Commission is delaying the date of the announcement for reasons known to them.
Responding to a query, the EC Chairman R M A L Rathnayaka denied President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent claim that members of the EC had met him. However, some point out that delaying the announcement of the election date gives an undue advantage to Wickramasigha as he could use his post for propaganda in a hidden manner.
Over 17 million people would be eligible to vote at the election, Ratnayake said, adding that the EC was in the process of working out arrangements with relevant officials, including the IGP, Post Master General and the Government Printer.
Asked whether sufficient funds had been made available to meet the rising cost of material and services, Rathnayake said that the 2015 presidential election cost the taxpayer Rs 2.7 bn, in 2019 the expenditure went up to Rs 4.4 bn and in terms of the latest estimates, the government has already allocated Rs 10 bn.
Rathnayake admitted that they still lacked a mechanism to prevent dual citizens from handing over nominations as contestants. When pressed for an answer, Rathnayake said that the EC didn’t have the time and space to decide on candidates’ citizenship status during the two-and-half hours allocated to accept nominations.
