Governors' forum demands immediate Provincial polls

The Governors' Forum is demanding the immediate conduct of the Provincial Council elections.

Issuing a statement, the forum stresses that maintaining Provincial Councils under the Governors' control without holding polls caused the erosion of provincial administration, and therefore, the government must take steps to hold the elections.

The Forum requests the government to take the necessary action to operate the Provincial Councils with public representatives, as there is no objection from all political parties to hold the polls under the old district voting system.

The Governors' Forum also zeroed in on the recent comments made by Tilvin Silva, who is the General Secretary of JVP, the core party of the NPP government.

Speaking in Jaffna, Silva claimed that the Provincial Council Elections will not be held this year.

The Forum had taken issue with the comment and says an individual, who is merely a party secretary holding no position in the government or public service, possesses no power to determine the future of Provincial Councils.

Further, as per the Supreme Court ruling regarding the Local Government elections, not holding an election on time constitutes a violation of rights.

The government is currently postponing the provincial elections by hiding behind a Parliamentary Select Committee.

As such, the Governors' Forum calls on the government to respect the Constitution and fundamental democratic norms, and take necessary steps to hold the Provincial Council election as soon as possible.