Sri Lankan President plans to reduce number of Local Government members before next election

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said that he intends to reduce the number of council members for local government bodies from 8,000 to 4,000, prior to the next election.

He said that he also intends to implement the Jana Sabha programme, the President’s Media Division said.

The executive power of the Pradeshiya Sabhas should be given to a chairman-based committee instead of a single chairman and draft laws will be prepared to incorporate these amendments prior to the next local government elections, President Wickremesinghe said.

Pointing out that the main cause of political corruption is the preference system, the President emphasised that a non-preference list system or a mixed election system should be adopted immediately and and restrictions should be imposed by the election law on the amount of money spent on elections.