President dissolves Parliament

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa dissolved the 8th Parliament last night paving the way for a snap general election.

The five-year term of the 8th Parliament was due to expire in August this year. According to the Gazette notification, the General Election is to be held on April 25 and the new Parliament is to meet on May 14.

The respective Returning Officers will accept nominations for the General Election from March 12, 2020 till 12 noon on March 19, 2020. The Gazette came into effect from midnight yesterday. According to the Constitution, the President is required to convene the new parliament on a date not later than three months after the date of dissolution of Parliament.

Under the 19th Amendment, the President has been vested with the power to dissolve the parliament after four and a half years of its 5-year term is completed. The National Elections Commission (NEC) will now begin its cycle of conducting the general election. The NEC has already been preparing for this eventuality.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission will issue gazette notifications today with regard to District election offices where nominations will be accepted by its officers,the names of the returning officers, the number of candidates from each 22 Electoral Districts, the placement of deposits and the applications of voters who wish to cast their votes in other polling stations due to various reasons Director General of Elections Saman Rathnayaka said.

Rathnayaka told the Daily News as the President has released the gazettes relating to the date of dissolution of Parliament, the nomination period and the commencement date of the new Parliament, the Commission will issue the gazette notifications concerning the nominations, returning officers , the candidates, the deposits and the applications concerned the following day (today).

“We are ready to conduct a General Election and steps will be taken accordingly,” he said.