• Rauff, Basil joins committee

By Kelum Bandara 

The parliamentary select committee that works on electoral reforms will submit its report with recommendations before November 30, Daily Mirror learns.  

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem were also appointed to the committee last week.  The committee conducts deliberations with inputs from various political parties to evolve a new electoral system to be introduced for the conduct of local government, provincial council and parliamentary elections in the future.   

According to a source, the committee will make recommendations on the conduct of elections to the provincial councils, a process delayed since 2017 over a legal snag.   

The Attorney General has also been consulted in this regard.   

The successive governments have tried to bring about electoral reforms for nearly ten years now. The 2002-2004 UNP government attempted it by appointing a parliamentary select committee headed by then opposition MP Dinesh Gunawardena.  

Since then, there have been various committees that sought to evolve a new system which is basically a mix of proportional representation and the First Past the Post system. However, the present government also appointed a new select committee headed by Mr. Gunawardena once again. He is presently the Education Minister and the Leader of the House.