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Monday December 11th, 2023

Sri Lanka president claims local polls not delayed, points to lack of consensus

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe claimed that the local government election that was scheduled for March 09 has not been delayed as there was “no election to be postponed”, pointing to an apparent lack of an official decision on when the polls should be held.

Addressing parliament on Thursday February 23, Wickremesinghe said the election commission was due to inform the Supreme Court later that day that the election cannot be held.

Criticism has been mounting against President Wickremesinghe’s administration for what opposition MPs claim is its relentless attempts to stifle democracy and delay the local government elections.

Opposition parties claim that the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP) does not want the election to go ahead fearing a humiliating defeat.

“The election has not been postponed. There is no election to be postponed in the first place,” said Wickremesinghe, inviting laughter from the government benches.

“As far as we know, a date for the election still hasn’t been announced. Some people are talking about March 09. I cannot comment on that date. To my knowledge, there has been no official decision made to hold the election,” he said.

The president claimed that the five-member election commission was not unanimous on the conduct of the polls.

“I can even present evidence for that,” he said.

“There really has been no official decision made to hold the election. So if we go and give money, I’d have to remove the secretary and ask the police to take legal action against him. The same would happen to the government printer. They will all lose their jobs.”

Wickremesinghe said that there are no funds at present, but all stakeholders can discuss a possible solution.

“For now there is no money. But for now there is no election either. There is no money for an election, and even if there was, there is no election. So what do we do?” he said.

The president further said that he is compelled to address claims made by various quarters about alleged attempts to delay the polls as it would otherwise be unfair by the Finance Ministry secretary and other officials.

Quoting a statement by the election commission that said it had been informed by the secretary of the Treasury that it is unable to provide the necessary funds to conduct the election, Wickremesinghe said: “This is false.”

The president also criticised the commission, an independent body, for having President’s Counsel Saliya Peiris represent it.

“If you’re obtaining the services of a lawyer, get someone who is not affiliated with any political party,” said Wickremesinghe.

Peiris, he claimed, is a lawyer who has maintained that his government has no mandate nor authority.

“It would’ve been better to get a lawyer from the SJB or the JVP,” he said.

Wickremesinghe also took a swipe at the main opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB). He said he had advised SJB member Mujibur Rahuman who had recently resigned from his seat in parliament to contest the local government elections as the SJB’s Colombo mayor candidate.

“I sent a message to Mujibur Rahuman telling him not to resign and that he would be thrown under the bus,” said Wickremesinghe, to the apparent amusement of government MPs.

“I’m the one who brought him to parliament. I wanted to keep him in parliament,” he said.

“I will not comment further on that,” he added. (Colombo/Feb23/2023)

Comments (4)

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  1. laksiri says:

    When the president of the country is a joker and a criminal, what else you expect other than this

  2. sam says:

    How can this man trust by IMF to give 42.9B when he lies to his people after doing every possible thing to stop the election and now acts like a mentally sick man?

  3. Channapr says:

    He is twisting words to confuse but his intent to scuttle elections is obvious. He is an Ethically Compromised Person.

  4. Mohamed A Hassen says:

    As responsible media, the views of the Election Commission should be sought and publicized on their decision to hold an election despite the utterances of a person of the calibre of RW.

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Comments (4)

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. laksiri says:

    When the president of the country is a joker and a criminal, what else you expect other than this

  2. sam says:

    How can this man trust by IMF to give 42.9B when he lies to his people after doing every possible thing to stop the election and now acts like a mentally sick man?

  3. Channapr says:

    He is twisting words to confuse but his intent to scuttle elections is obvious. He is an Ethically Compromised Person.

  4. Mohamed A Hassen says:

    As responsible media, the views of the Election Commission should be sought and publicized on their decision to hold an election despite the utterances of a person of the calibre of RW.

Sri Lanka’s ousted utilities regulatory chief convinced he’ll be president

ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka’s former public utilities regulatory chief Janaka Ratnayake, who was removed in May following a parliamentary vote, has confirmed that he intends to run for president.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday December 11 in the wake of an hours-long island-wide power outage the previous evening, Ratanayake said he will be the definite winner at a future presidential poll.

“I announced [my intention to run] officially on December 07, my birthday. I’m definitely coming as a presidential candidate. That’s not all, I’m the definite president at a future presidential election,” he said.

Ratnayake, in his first media appearance in months, was responding to questions about newspaper advertisements published on December 07 announcing his future candidacy.

Sri Lanka’s parliament on May 24 opted to remove the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL), with 123 members voting in favour. This marked the first time a head of an independent government commission was sacked by Sri Lanka’s parliament.

Power & Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara, who had been at loggerheads with the regulatory chief, said at the time that the official had acted obstinately without the concurrence of fellow commission members.

The minister levelled five charges against Ratnayake, the first twoof  which were based on a February 10 verdict by the Court of Appeal rejecting an application filed by the offiical against an electricity tariff hike. Opposition legislators slammed the decision saying it undermined independent commissions.

Ratnayake’s presidential ambitions have been known for some time. A day before parliament voted to remove him, he told reporters: “If I can change the country, I will definitely join politics, because my intention is to serve the people and what is right.”

Ratnayake had blocked delayed a tariff hike in early 2023, resulting in losses to the state-run Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), Minister Wijesekara claimed at the time. The PUCSL had als onot enabled tariff hikes for nine years, requiring its governing law to be changed, Wijesekera said.

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Sri Lanka wants university research to lead to commercially viable products

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s ministry of industries wants to ensure commercially-ready products and services are produced by university research, by facilitating partnerships with factories and entrepreneurs.

After a currency crisis, Sri Lanka’s government is in a drive to boost its trade balance by increasing exports.

“Our export basket hasn’t changed recently, partly because our small and medium entrepreneurs don’t have sufficient research and development facilities (like the multinationals) to innovate their products for the export market,” Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Industries, Chaminda Pathiraja said.

“At the same time, state universities and research institutes produce a large amount of research findings yearly, which end up sitting in those institutions; they don’t reach the industry,” Pathiraja said at a press briefing to announce a program on commercialization of new products and research, to be held tomorrow at the Waters Edge.

The networking forum will bring innovators and manufacturers together to focus on the commercialization of research for the value added tea, coir, spice, dairy products, gem and jewellery and packaging products industries.

“We want to encourage collaboration, through programs like our University Business League etc, so that the research output can be commercialized, and what is produced by our factories can increase in quantity and quality. We must focus on the export market.”

The objective of this program, he said, was to reduce the gap in acquiring innovators’ ideas and skills by the investors, and ultimately boost the manufacturing sector’s efficiency in alignment with the export market.
(Colombo/Dec11/2023)

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Sri Lanka rupee opens at 327.00/50 to the US dollar

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s rupee opened at 327.00/50 to the US dollar on Monday, from 327.00/30 Friday, dealers said.

On the Colombo Stock Exchange, both indices opened up: The All Share Price Index 0.28 percent at 10,823, and the S&P SL20 0.35 percent at 3,113.85.

Bond yields were up.

A bond maturing on 01.08.2026 was quoted at 14.05/20 percent from 14.05/15 percent.

A bond maturing on 15.01.2027 was quoted at 14.05/20 percent from 14.10/25 percent.

A bond maturing on 01.07.2028 was quoted at 14.20/50 percent from 14.20/35 percent.
(Colombo/Dec11/2023)

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