Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on Nov. 16, the elections office said Wednesday, amid calls for a strong leader to boost national security as the country recovers from deadly Easter Sunday bomb attacks.

Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said today the presidential election would be conducted on November 16, 2019.

Former Kegalle District UPFA MP H. R. Mithrapala passed away at the age of 73 today. He passed away at the Karawanella Hospital.

Police officers have recovered a stash of weapons and explosive material believed to have been hidden by members of NTJ leader Zahran Hashim’s terrorist group at Palamunai, Ampara.

Former Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) Anusha Palpita, yesterday, denied President Maithripala Sirisena’s allegation, on Monday, that Rs. 2 billion paid by the Sri Lankan government, in 2012, to Aerospace Long-March International Trade Co. Ltd (ALIT), China, for the construction of the Lotus Tower had disappeared from the books.

Deputy Leader of United National Party (UNP), Minister Sajith Premadasa, in a letter addressed to UNP Leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, urged the latter to immediately call for the conduct of a secret ballot with the participation of the UNP Working Committee and Parliamentary Group, so that they can go for a democratic decision on the Party’s Presidential Candidacy.

Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition became embroiled in a power struggle Tuesday as two challengers came forward to oppose Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to be candidate for a looming presidential election.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday that if he were to contest the presidential election, his main objective would be to abolish the Executive Presidency.

Three residents of Elpitiya have filed a Fundamental Rights petition at the Supreme Court calling for the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha Election to be called off.

A fire broke out at an apartment building at Aramaya Road in Dematagoda a short while ago, the fire brigade said.

Three United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) member took oaths as Members of the Parliament a short while ago.

Minister Sajith Premadasa today said that if the public made a request that he is not suitable for politics and should retire he would not keep clinging to things like an octopus.

The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) says that government doctors across the island will engage in a 24-hour token strike from 8.00 a.m. tomorrow (Sept. 18).

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday said that while the opening of the Lotus Tower was a positive development for Sri Lanka there were governance concerns attached to the project as an estimated Rs. 2 billion loss was incurred to the Government due to an advance payment for the venture in 2012.

Sri Lanka’s request for the extradition of former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran, over the 2015 Central Bank Treasury Bonds scam, has been submitted to the Government of Singapore for necessary action, Coordinating Officer to the Attorney General (AG),   State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday that sending the agreement, signed between the Agriculture Ministry and D.P. Jayasinghe Company to shift the Ministry to a building owned by the Company at a total cost of Rs. 1.3 billion to the Attorney General’s Department for approval, was the responsibility of former Minister of Agriculture Duminda Dissanayake and that responsibility for Dissanayake’s action lay with the President.