Election on June 20: EC to decide on Tuesday

Final decision will depend on advice of health authorities

The Election Commission (EC) will review on Tuesday whether it will be feasible to conduct elections on June 20 or if another suitable date will have to be announced, its Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya declared yesterday.

He told the Sunday Times that at the proposed meeting, the commission would examine all aspects of the prevailing situation related to COVID- 19 but declined to elaborate.

Though the EC was expected to gazette the names of all candidates and allot numbers to them for preference votes on May 4 ( last Monday), this was done. This is in the light of June 20 not being regarded as a firm date. The EC feels the allocation of numbers would trigger the polls campaign to begin immediately.

However, Election Commission sources said a final decision would hinge on the advice of the health authorities.

“So far we have not heard from them. We have to ascertain whether COVID-19 is spreading in the community and how clusters should be defused,” one source said. The affliction of the virus on those held in quarantine, the source added, would “not be a serious issue for us.”

EC Chairman Deshapriya’s comments came as the government finalised plans to ease restrictions gradually to make way for the return to normal life from tomorrow. However, it will be subject to the closure of restaurants and eateries until further notice.

Private sector establishments have been told to adhere strictly to the government guidelines which include the continuation of the present round-the-clock curfew. It will be in the districts o f Colombo, Gampaha, Kalutara and Puttalam. In view of the curfew, the private sector has been told that it would be able to work out two shifts for employees, one during the day and another at night.

Election Commission officials are already focusing on different aspects of how to conduct the parliamentary elections. This includes the conduct of polls on a staggered basis, as exclusively revealed in the Sunday Times last week.

The last time a general election was held on a staggered basis in Sri Lanka was in 1956, over three days, after which all elections were held on a single day.