Speaker Karu Jayasuriya with the consent of the representatives of political parties, will appoint a five-member Parliamentary Committee chaired by the Prime Minister, within the next few days, to review the Report of the Delimitation Committee for the Delimitation of Electorates in Provincial Councils which was rejected in Parliament by 139 votes on Friday, August 24.
The Committee is tasked with making recommendations to Parliament within two months. As the Delimitation Committee Report failed to gain the approval of Parliament, the Speaker will have to take action in accordance with clause 4 (12) of the Constitution. The issue was extensively discussed at the Parliamentary Affairs Committee meeting chaired by the Speaker on Friday, Parliamentary sources said.
The sources said if the Committee could submit its recommendations by mid October; the stakeholders had agreed to extend their fullest support to hold Provincial Council elections in January, next year.
The other members of the Committee will comprise non-political experts on the subject.
The Speaker had maintained the view that the PC elections should not be postponed under any circumstance. The Speaker had also exchanged views with the Chairmen of the Election Commission and the Delimitation Committee for an early election.
The Speaker had also stressed that Parliament would also extend its fullest support to hold early elections. At the end of the full-day debate in Parliament on Friday, the Delimitation Committee Report was rejected by 139 votes. All UNF, JO and TNA members voted against the report. Although the JVP advocated the need for having PC elections under the new system, all JVP members were absent at the time of voting. Even at the end of a prolonged debate, consensus could not be reached on whether the PC elections should be held under the old or the new system.
The SLFP faction in the Government and the JVP are for having elections under the new system while the UNF, JO and the TNA are in favour of going back to the old system.