Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election to cost more than presidential poll

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election to be held on November 14 will cost more than last week’s presidential poll, the island nation’s top election official said on Wednesday.

Saman Sri Ratnayake said that the parliamentary election would cost 11 billion Sri Lankan rupees (approximately Rs 300 crore) up from 10 billion rupees for the presidential election.

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who won the presidential elections, dissolved Parliament on Tuesday to call a snap election.

The last parliament was convened in August 2020. The dissolution has come 11 months ahead of schedule.

However, the money for the parliamentary election was not allocated in the current year’s budget.

“The president is legally obliged to provide monies to hold the election even without budgetary allocations”, Ratnayake said.

The previous president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, planned to hold the parliamentary election next year as they were due in August next year.

Wickremesinghe, as the minister of finance, had limited the money allocation this year only to cover the presidential election.

The highest court in early August ruled that Wickremesinghe as the finance minister had violated fundamental rights of voters by his refusal to provide monies to hold the 2023 local council elections.

Wickremesinghe, 75, who took charge in 2022 after then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned, held there was no money then due to the economic crisis and the economic recovery was more important than holding the local elections.

On Tuesday, President Dissanayake appointed his cabinet of four, including himself and also Harini Amarasuriya was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, making her the 16th person to hold the position.

The Election Commission also noted that the voter registration list prepared for the presidential election will be used for the general election.