The Hon. (Prof.) A.H.M.H. Abayarathna

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, the Hon. Member has raised a very important question. To implement the new local government electoral system by delimiting wards for all local authorities, the Minister in charge of Provincial Councils appointed a National Delimitation Committee on 07 December 2012. Its mandate—based on population ratios, geographical features, and other criteria I mentioned—was to carry out the process. To support this, District Committees chaired by District Secretaries were appointed in 2012 comprising district representatives of the Election Commission, the Ministry of Provincial Councils, the Survey Department, and the Department of Census and Statistics.

¶ 02 The recommendations were submitted on 19.06.2015 to the Hon. Minister in charge of Provincial Councils, who referred them to H.E. the President. Accordingly, ward boundaries, ward names, identification numbers, and the total number of members for each local authority were officially published in the Extraordinary Gazette No. 1928/26 of 21.08.2015. Considering appeals received thereafter, amendments recommended by the Appeals Committee on Ward Boundary Delimitation were published by Extraordinary Gazette No. 2006/44 of 17.02.2017.

¶ 03 Therefore, the current system was created through a long process with broad consultation. However, we also recognize the issues raised by the Hon. Member. In my view, the responsibility lies with this Parliament. As a Parliament, we should discuss and formulate an appropriate new mechanism. The Government is ready to facilitate that.