Local council elections will be held in Sri Lanka on March 9.

Local council elections in Sri Lanka will be held on March 9. The country’s Election Commission made the announcement on Saturday, allaying fears that the elections could be postponed again due to the country’s economic crisis. The local election was earlier postponed for six months as the country was gripped by unprecedented economic turmoil, leading to a political crisis that forced former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of power. Election Commission officials announced that local elections for 340 councils in the country will be held on March 9. Opposition parties are pushing for local elections.

According to opposition parties, this will give people an opportunity to show their displeasure over the government’s failure to deal with the economic crisis. The government, however, had said that the time was not suitable for holding elections in view of the current economic crisis in the country, regarding the delay in the local elections. The election process will reportedly cost 10 billion rupees, which will put additional pressure on the already weak economy of the country. The ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) controls most of the councils after winning the last election in 2018. However, the party is in turmoil following the ouster of party leader and former President Rajapaksa in July by a mass movement. Meanwhile, the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is confident that it can win a majority of councils given public anger towards the ruling party.

Disclaimer:IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.