Colombo, 14 November (IANS). Voting began on Thursday to elect 225 members of Parliament in Sri Lanka. The country’s President Anura Kumar Dissanayake is trying his best to gain majority in this election.
President Dissanayake of the new government formed after the government became unstable after the economic crisis in the country, along with demanding a new political culture free from misuse of money, is also working hard to get absolute majority in the Parliament.
The election is the first major test of the National People’s Power, the ruling party led by President Dissanayake.
In this election, Samagi Jana Sandanya led by Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lanka Podujana Party of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, New Democratic Front made up of breakaway MLAs supporting former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and minority parties of the North are demanding seats.
This is the first time (since 1977) that outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe is not contesting a parliamentary election. He lost to Dissanayake in the presidential election held last month.
All Rajapaksa brothers (including Mahinda, Gotabaya, Chamal and Basil) are not contesting parliamentary elections after decades.
Many ministers and deputy ministers of the previous government have opted out of the race.
President Dissanayake has sought a strong mandate from Parliament to end corruption and punish those former leaders. These are those corrupt leaders on whom the charges of misusing public funds have been proven. Dissanayake was elected on 21 September.
In these elections, 196 members will be elected through voting in 22 electoral districts and 29 members will be elected through the national list. This will be based on the total number of votes received by political parties and independent groups in the election.
–IANS
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