DailyMirror
The Government has initiated work on the re-demarcation of the boundaries of local government bodies to conduct the next local government election under the ward system.
The Local Government and Provincial Council Ministry has already issued a circular setting out instructions to the relevant officials on this matter. Ministry sources said that they would establish committees headed by the respective District Secretaries to determine the boundaries for the wards to be introduced under the new electoral system. The Assistant Elections Commissioners appointed for each district will also assist these committees in this exercise.
Sources said that the Government would introduce the ward system for local government elections ‘very soon’, but it was too early to give a deadline at the moment. Boundaries, population of Grama Niladhari Divisions and their geographical locactions will be considered for this purpose. We are having initial negotiations. Anyway, the ward system will be introduced very soon,” they said.
According to these sources, political parties would not be able to appoint the heads of local bodies under the proposed system since it would be left to the members of the winning political party to elect the heads of the respective local councils. An Assistant Elections Commissioner who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Daily Mirror that the minimum population of a ward would be 800 and the maximum 2400 under the new system.
According to him, polling will be conducted from 7.00 a.m till 3.00 p.m. The votes polled will be counted at the same polling booth as soon as polling is over.
He said that, in densely populated districts such as Colombo, there could be two wards in some Grama Niladhari Divisions.
“It means that two members will be elected from a GS division,” he said.