Sri Lanka limits bilateral engagements ahead of Presidential Election

• Foreign leaders’ planned visits withheld due to time constraints for President   
• Only Indian PM to visit ahead of elections   

The government has limited its bilateral engagements including entertaining foreign leaders except Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the next couple of months because of the presidential election , Daily Mirror learns .   

The government has decided to focus fully on the election.   

The leaders from the countries such as the United Arab Emirates and the Maldives were supposed to visit Sri Lanka but such visits would be held back due to time constraints for President Ranil Wickremesinghe ahead of the election.

However, the Indian Prime Minister will be visiting Sri Lanka before the election but there is no official confirmation yet on dates .   

The Election Commission is slated to issue the notice calling for the election either on July 30 or 31.   

Polling will take place on a date between September 17 and October 17. The President is a presumptive candidate to be backed by a broad alliance.   

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena who is the leader of Mahajana Eksath Permamuna ( MEP) is also playing a role uniting the parties including Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna ( SLPP) for such an alliance to support the President’s candidacy.