Sri Lanka to hold local elections in February

COLOMBO, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka will conduct polls on Feb. 10 to elect members to the nation's 341 local authorities, an official here said on Monday.

Sri Lanka Election Commission's Chairman Mahinda Desapriya told reporters on Monday that nominations were called for the elections these days and the nomination period will end on Dec. 21.

The local authorities are the third tier of governance in Sri Lanka after the Parliament and the Provincial Councils, and are primarily responsible for local affairs such as the development of village access roads, garbage collection, and maintenance of basic local infrastructure.

There are 341 local authorities in the country, divided into 4,919 electoral wards at village level.

Desapriya said 5,092 members would be elected representing these wards to the local authorities.

This is the first election to be held after the parliament election in 2015.

Rohana Hettiarachchi, the executive director of the poll observer group People's Action for Free and Fair Election, said this election would have some national significance as it would be the first one to be held under the new government formed after the 2015 parliamentary election.

The two parties headed by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are contesting the election. Besides, the party led by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has also joined the contest. Enditem