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Adherence to health guidelines: Election cost to double to Rs. 14 b?

17 May 2020

By Skandha Gunasekara The new health guidelines could double the cost of holding elections to around Rs. 14 billion, the Election Commission (EC) predicted. EC Director General Saman Sri Ratnayake, while emphasising that this wasn’t an official calculation, said that he expected the election costs to increase substantially. “We haven’t received the Health Ministry guidelines yet, but it seems that the costs will increase twofold at the least, due to the additional health and safety measures,” he said. At present, the election is estimated to cost between Rs. 6.8-7 billion. Ratnayake noted that steps towards maintaining guidelines such as social distancing would lead to such increases. “For example, because of social distancing protocols, a class which would usually accommodate 30 election monitors, in which we instruct them on election rules, would now have to be held on two separate occasions as only around 10-15 could sit in one class while maintaining social distancing. Similarly, a vehicle which transported five would only be able to transport three now, resulting in the need for more vehicles and additional fuel costs,” he said. However, he said that there was a silver lining as some measures would compel the Commission to adopt new methodologies. “While costs may increase inevitably due to the health guidelines, we must also adopt new methods and systems, and it is quite likely that these new systems could be permanent and reduce costs in the long run,” Ratnayake said.

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