By Xinhua,
Colombo : Sri Lanka is to hold local elections across the island in March, the first time after the country’s longstanding civil war ended in May 2009, said Deputy Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils Indika Bandaranayake Wednesday.
His comments followed a remark by the senior minister Maithripala Sirisena who said Sri Lanka Freedom Party, the main party in the ruling coalition has called for names from those interested of becoming local councilors.
The term of the current councils runs until the end of March. Bandaranayake said the system of elections is yet to be decided.
A new parliamentary bill to change the system to a mixture of first-past-the-post and proportional representation is to be presented next week.
“We may need a longer time to implement a new system in place of the present proportional representation system”, Bandaranayake said.
When held, the election will be the first ever local elections to be held in all nine provinces in the island in over three decades.
During the time of the Tamil Tiger rebellion, the local elections were held on a staggered basis in the conflict-ravaged north and east provinces.