Ranil tells economy his top priority; says there’s no election to postpone

• Stresses his top priority is building a strong economy and not politics
• Says there is no official date set for local government election
• Argues that there was no quorum at the time of the decision was taken to hold the election
• Says funds allocated in the budget for the local govt. election cannot be given at once
• Points out govt. cannot use tax funds until final agreement is reached with creditors, IMF

President Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told parliament that his top priority is building a strong economy and not politics, though the Opposition political parties directly accused him of trying to postpone an election that has already been announced.

While disputing the validity of the way how the local government election was announced by the independent Elections Commission, Wickremesinghe said as he understood, there was no official date set for the election yet.

“According to my understanding, there is no official date set for the election yet, despite rumours that it may be on March 09. It’s important to note that according to Section 104, a quorum of three members is required for any meeting of the Commission.

On January 22, Nimal Punchihewa, the Chairman of the Election Commission, reportedly told the Sunday Times that the three commissioners had been contacted virtually via Zoom and their consent had been obtained. The 5th Commissioner, M.M. Mohommed, was present at the Commission office. 

That means those two, the Chairman and M.M. Mohamed, took the decision. He himself said that he took the approval of others. If you asked those three, they will not maintain the same view. I have proof to prove it. Then officially, they haven’t taken a decision to hold the election,” Wickremesinghe said.

However, the Elections Commission maintains that they took the decision to hold the local government election on March 9 within the applicable legal framework. 

The President also said even though funds have been allocated for the local government election in budget 2023, they cannot be released at once. 

“The funds allocated in the budget cannot be given at once. Also, it is not mentioned anywhere about a specific date for these funds to be given. The allocations made by the budget should be spent by the end of the year. But, that could be done only if the expected revenue is received.

Otherwise, we have to seek approval from the House for the Central Bank to print money. But, according to the IMF agreement we can’t print money. The other matter is that we don’t postpone an election by a circular. Officially, we can’t hold an election as there was no quorum at the time of the decision was taken,” he said.

While stressing that he and public officials have acted in accordance with the law, Wickremesinghe said the government cannot use tax funds until a final agreement is reached on debt restructuring with Paris Club, India and China, and finalisation of the bailout package with the International Monetary Fund. 

“The economy is my top priority. We will not have a country if the economy does not develop. I ask this House one question. Is it possible to keep the constitution without losing the country? Only if the country is protected can the constitution be protected.  I have also informed the Prime Minister to bring the proposal of the Select Committee on those responsible for the economic destruction proposed by the Opposition in parliament in the 03rd week of March. The government supports it. Also, the Opposition proposed to change the Election Commission. We will support that too,” Wickremesinghe said.