In a letter addressed to R.M.A.L. Rathnayake, Chairman of the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, political analyst and columnist Kusal Perera has accused the Commission of deliberately stalling the long-overdue Provincial Council (PC) elections under the guise of legal ambiguity.

The letter, sent on May 21, follows a report published in The Morning (link:- PC Polls: Government yet to consult EC) on 20 May, which quoted Chairman Rathnayake as saying that the PC elections could only be held if either the delimitation process is completed or the existing election law is amended to revert to the old system.

Perera, however, contends that this interpretation misrepresents the current legal framework.

Referring to the still-active Provincial Councils Elections Act No. 02 of 1988, he argues that there is no legal void preventing the Commission from proceeding with the elections.

“This argument is an old and invalid one that was also used by your predecessor, Mahinda Deshapriya, to align with the political agenda of the ruling government. It is not the responsibility of the EC and its Chairman to intervene in making new law. Their responsibility is to deliver on existing law. That’s precisely what the EC is not doing,” he noted.

The letter sent by Mr. Perera is as follows :

21 May, 2025

R.M.A.L Rathnayake
Chairman,
Election Commission of SL
Election Secretariat,
P.O. Box 02
Sarana Mawatha
Rajagiriya.
[email protected]

Mr. Chairman,
Re – long delayed PC elections and PC election law the EC avoids

On 20 May (2025), I read a news report in “The Morning” newspaper with the caption “Govt. Yet To Consult EC” regarding the long-delayed PC elections that are now being contemplated upon by the present government to be held, possibly end of this year or early next year.

You were quoted verbatim in that news report as having said, “In order to hold the PC Elections, either the delimitation process should be completed or the existing law should be amended to allow the Elections to be held under the old system. One of these two must happen.”

Let me tell you, this argument is an old invalid argument that was used by the previous Chairman of the EC Mahinda Deshapriya too, to tag along with the politics of the ruling government. Six years ago on 19 April 2019, I wrote about this side-stepping in my Daily Mirror article titled “Political Mess We Wish To Continue With” wherein I said, “It is not the responsibility of the EC and its Chairman to intervene in making new law. Their responsibility is to deliver on existing law. That’s precisely what the EC is not doing. Instead, they are violating the PC Election Act No.02 of 1988, still the valid provincial council election law of this land.”

Mr. Chairman, this holds true and valid till this day. Your argument quoted above from the news report in the “The Morning” newspaper, is a total distortion of the legal status of the existing law. You basically say, there is no law at present to hold elections, simply because the parliament had begun a process to amend existing law with new electoral demarcations approved by the Delimitation Commission that sat till 2018 November. You therefore say “…..either the delimitation process should be completed or the existing law should be amended”.

It is common knowledge, the existing law is not trashed as you imply, while a new law is being made. The existing law remains valid till the parliamentary process is completed with the Speaker placing his signature on a bill making it law. For the simple reason, society can never be left with a legal lacuna. In this case as you say, Sri Lanka is without a PC election law since 2017 September and would be so, until the government decides someday to “either complete the delimitation process or amend the existing law”.

It is not your duty, nor your responsibility to continue to stall PC elections till someday the government decides to complete the delimitation process and make it into law, or amend the present law as you say. As an “independent commission” your responsibility to the taxpayer who funds you as chairman and the commission, is to ensure his or her sovereign right is not infringed upon, on invalid arguments and for political interests.

I would therefore request you to schedule the PC elections at your earliest convenience, for which the EC does not need any permission from any State agency, authority or political party.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely

Kusal Perera
Bellanwila

C.c. –  To all Members in the EC
            To all media

High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka – Mr. Santosh Jha met the inaugural batch of 24 participants who will be leaving for India later this week, for a Capacity-Building Program at India’s Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies (PRIDE) in New Delhi.

The delegation led by Deputy Speaker – Dr. Rizvie Salih, consisting of 20 Members of Parliament representing various political parties and 4 officials of the Sri Lankan Parliament, including the Secretary General, was received by the High Commissioner at India House today.

The programme will span across a week from 26-30 May 2025. It will include components of sharing of best practices across legislative and budgetary processes, system of Parliamentary Committees and other related matters between the two democracies. While in India, participants will also have the opportunity to experience the richness of Indian art and culture, as well as witness the transformation underway in the Indian economy through site visits and suitable interactions, particularly across digital, IT, energy and urban mobility spheres.

 This programme is being conducted pursuant to the announcement made by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Sri Lanka in April 2025, offering 700 customised training slots annually for Sri Lankan professionals. 

These will span across sectors from entrepreneurship to sports, media and cinema. 

These 700 slots were announced in addition to the 1500 slots available for training of Sri Lankan civil servants over a period of five years, under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the National Centre for Good Governance of India (NCGG) and Sri Lanka Institute of Development Administration (SLIDA) signed in December 2024.

Opposition MP Mujibur Rahman yesterday (May 21) alleged in Parliament that all imported salt stocks have been handed over to a leading private salt distributor.

The MP further alleged that a director of the said distributing company is also a director of Puttalam Salt Ltd.

“For the past 06 months, all salt imports were done through the State Trading Corporation (STC). But where did that salt go? No permission was given for private sector imports either. So if the salt the government brought in didn’t enter the local market, where did it end up?” he questioned.

He went on to allege that the salt brought in at Rs.24 per kg could be sold to the public at around Rs.100/kg after including all additional costs.

“But now salt is being sold at Rs.350 – 400 per kg in the market. The salt imported by the government has been given to one private company, which is crushed and sold at higher prices. There is a director at Puttalam Salt Ltd who is also the chairman of a private company. He is the one behind this salt stock takeover.”

Rahuman further said that this mirrors the issues in the rice market, where the government is seen to be supporting businesses rather than the public:

“In addition to the rice mafia, now we have a salt mafia. And the government is also backing the companies.”