• EC has sought clarity and action on the same on multiple occasions but claims missives have fallen on deaf ears 
• EC Chair notes the matter is a legal issue

The Election Commission (EC) has written to the Presidential Secretariat on several occasions regarding the long-delayed Provincial Council (PC) Elections, but has yet to receive a response, the EC Chairperson R.M.A.L. Rathnayake said.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, he said the EC had sent around four letters to the Presidential Secretariat seeking clarity and action on the legal impasse surrounding the PC Elections. However, he said the EC remains unable to move forward, as the matter is now entirely a legal one.

“We are completely locked in. There is nothing we can do at this point. It’s beyond our control,” he said, adding the EC cannot take any steps until the relevant legal amendments are made. “We have requested the necessary actions to be taken, but so far there has been no response.”

On an earlier occasion, Rathnayake said that there are currently two possible paths: either to hold the PC Elections using the previous proportional representation (PR) system, or to conduct it after a fresh delimitation process. Of the two, he noted that returning to the earlier system would allow the Elections to be held more quickly. He also warned that opting for a new delimitation would take close to a year, meaning the process would need to begin without delay if that path is chosen.

The PC Elections have remained stalled for years due to a legal issue stemming from an amendment introduced by the United National Front Government between 2015 and 2020. Although a delimitation report was completed and submitted to the Parliament several years ago, it was rejected by the Legislature at the time, leaving the process in limbo.

In May of last year (2025), the Deputy PCs and Local Government (LG) Minister P. Ruwan Senarath said that the Government expected to initiate the required legal reforms for the PC Elections once the LG Elections were concluded. However, despite the LG Elections being held on 6 May 2025, there has been no visible progress on preparing for the PC Elections or introducing the necessary legal amendments.

Meanwhile, the Government has announced plans to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into the holding of the PC Elections.

Attempts to contact the Minister of PCs, Prof. A.H.M.H. Abayarathna and Senarath for comment were unsuccessful.

When contacted by The Daily Morning, the President's Media Division said that they are not aware of the matter.