The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said today the Local Government Election should be announced before March 31 and that the election should be held under the previous electoral system without delay.

JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said it was illegal to postpone the Local Government Election as per the Local Government Act; the term of Local Government Bodies could be extended only by a year.

“The local government election cannot be postponed more than a year. Previously it was done according to the Emergency Law but now it was not so. If the government cannot hold the election under the new system, it should be held under the old system and the new system should be included in the new constitution so that all the election could be held under the new system. There should not be a new system only for the Local Government Election,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayake alleged that the government was trying to postpone the election on political grounds as President Maithripala Sirisena did not want to see the SLFP divided before the election and the UNP thinks that the present situation was not congenial for an election to be held.

“The only matter the government raises for having postponed the election is the shortcomings of the delimitation process. We accept that as it was done by the previous government not on reasonable grounds but to establish its power of the Local Government Bodies,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayake told a news conference that his party was considering taking legal action against the postponement of the elections and that they would also request for a two-day debate on the matter next week.

“The Local Government Bodies are closely connected to the issues of the ordinary people such as disposing garbage, constructing village level roads and installing street lamps. But the whole system is disrupted as the administrations of the Local Government Bodies were handed over to the officers. They are not governed by the people now,” he said. (Ajith Siriwardana)