Sri Lanka’s long-postponed Provincial Council elections remain stalled amid what the Election Commission describes as a complete lack of response from the Presidential Secretariat, despite repeated written requests to resolve the legal obstacles preventing the polls. Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Ratnayake said the Commission has formally written to the Presidential Secretariat on approximately four occasions seeking urgent intervention, but has yet to receive any reply.
Ratnayake described the situation as extremely difficult, stressing that the Commission is effectively powerless to act under the current legal framework. He said the Commission cannot move forward with election preparations until the necessary legal amendments are enacted, noting that although clear requests have been made to initiate those changes, the absence of any response has left the process entirely beyond the Commission’s control.
The Chairman reiterated that there are two legally viable paths to conducting the Provincial Council elections. One option is to hold the polls under the previous proportional representation system, while the other is to proceed after completing a new delimitation process. He warned that elections could have been conducted swiftly if authorities had opted to use the old system, but emphasized that if a new delimitation is to be pursued, the process must begin immediately as it would take nearly a year to complete.
Provincial Council elections have been in limbo for several years following amendments to election laws introduced during the 2015–2020 period. Although a delimitation report was later presented to Parliament, it was rejected, leaving the legal and procedural framework for the elections unresolved and creating a prolonged governance vacuum at the provincial level.
The current government had pledged to introduce the required legal reforms after the local government elections held on May 6, 2025, but no meaningful progress has been made since then. In the meantime, plans have been announced to appoint a parliamentary select committee to examine the conduct of Provincial Council elections, a move that critics fear may further delay an already long-overdue democratic process.
