The Election Commission (EC) is awaiting Parliament’s greenlight before it can proceed with long-delayed Provincial Council (PC) Elections.
Despite preparations and a budget allocation of Rs. 10 billion for the polls, legal and political hurdles remain unresolved, leaving the commission unable to act until Parliament addresses the outstanding issues related to electoral law and constituency delimitation.
Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Rathnayake said the commission could not proceed until Parliament addressed the existing legal issues.
He said the responsibility lay with Parliament to resolve the delimitation problem or reinstate the earlier law so that the commission could act.
The EC Chairman added that the commission had not received any indication so far that either of the required legislative steps had begun.
Rathnayake also noted that the commission had not requested the Rs. 10 billion allocation, as funding fell under Parliament’s responsibilities.
Parliament is to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to review the legal framework governing PC Elections and recommend the steps needed to proceed with the long-pending polls.
Leader of the House, Minister Bimal Rathnayake informed Parliament yesterday (15) that the committee would be tasked with examining the issues that have prevented the elections from being held. He made the remarks in response to a question raised by MP Dayasiri Jayasekara.
The decision follows comments by Deputy Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Prabha Ruwan Senarath to The Sunday Morning that the 2026 Budget had allocated Rs. 10 billion for the elections.
He noted that although funding and preparations were in place, political agreement was required on how the election should be conducted.
Senarath also stated that the select committee would study two possible legislative options: introducing a new law to return to the previous electoral system or resolving the current delimitation issue.
He added that other political parties had been invited to submit their proposals and that a final decision was likely to be made after the Budget was passed.