Friday, April 13, 2007

Sri Lanka to introduce electoral reforms bill next month

Apr 12, Colombo: Sri Lanka government is planning to introduce bills to further amend the 17th Amendment and for electoral reforms next month, a Minister said.

Addressing a news conference yesterday, Constitutional Affairs Minister D. E. W. Gunasekera said the proposals would be presented to the parliament and the Cabinet.

According to the Minister the issues related to the 17th Amendment and Electoral reforms Bill have been extensively discussed at the Select Committee and by and large a majority consensus has been reached on new reforms.

"The discussions held at Select Committee meetings were successful in coming to an agreement" he said.

The Select Committee will submit the report to the Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara.

Proposed electoral reforms would be a mixture of both proportional representation and the first-past-the-post system. After conducting over 30 sessions of meetings with relevant parties, the final report on electoral reforms will be prepared by the head of the Select Committee, Minister of Urban Development Dinesh Gunawardena.

No comments: