The Election Commission will convene a special meeting in Colombo at around 10.30 a.m. this morning (March 07) to decide on a fresh date for the 2023 Local Government election which was initially scheduled to be held on March 09.

All officials who are involved in the election process, including the Secretary to the Finance Ministry, the Government Printer and the Inspector-General of Police have been informed to attend this meeting.

Although initially set to be announced last Friday (March 03), announcing the new election dates was deferred following a meeting held by the members of the Commission that day.

The postponement of the decision came in the background of an order issued by the Supreme Court in this regard today, instructing that a date for the 2023 polls be announced before 09 March.

In the meantime, a separate meeting of the members of the election body will meet later today for a discussion on the local government election.

Further, a group of parliamentarians of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), National People’s Power (NPP), Freedom People’s Alliance, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and other parties representing the opposition are also expected to convene a meeting at the Election Commission this morning for the same reason.

Meanwhile, MP M.A. Sumanthiran said 09 lawmakers representing the opposition have handed over a letter to the Election Commission’s chairman urging him to make sure that the local government election is held before March 20.