Stakeholder Meeting on New Provincial Council Election System

A critical dialogue on the new provincial council’s election system, organized by People’s Action for Free & Fair Elections (PAFFREL) in partnership with Centre for  Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) was held at the Water’s Edge Hotel on 25th April 2018.

Key stakeholders including the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government, political parties and Academia as well as Civil Society Leaders attended at this event. Main objective of this event was to review the outcome of recently concluded Local Government Elections held under the new electoral system as well as to discuss about the newly introduced Provincial Councils Election Amendment Act.

Key speakers at this event were Mahinda Deshapriya, the Chairman, Election Commission of Sri Lanka, K. Thavalingam, the Chairman, National Delimitation Commission, Prof. Sudantha Liyanage, Dean, Faculty of Applied Sciences and Dr. Sujatha Gamage. Panelists for the discussion included Saman Sri Rathnayake, Additional Commissioner of Election Commission and the Secretary of National Delimitation Commission, Gayani Premathilaka, Attorney at law, Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government and Luwie Ganeshathasan, Attorney At Law, Researcher, Centre for Policy Alternatives. Rohana Hettiarachchi, Executive Director of PAFFREL was the facilitator of the panel discussion while Manjula Gajanayake, National Coordinator of CMEV also giving his contribution to the discussion.

A large section of individuals representing various government agencies, civil society organizations and other likeminded institutions took part in this event. The main outcome of the said discussion has been the appointment of a committee to consult key stakeholders on the existing provincial council’s election system within a time frame of one and half month. USAID – DAI provided the financial support for this event.