Sri Lanka EC Asks to Increase Security at Government Printer Ahead of Elections| Sri Lanka EC Asks to Increase Security at Government Printer Ahead of Elections

Colombo (PTI), February 17, 2017 (PTI). The election commission in Sri Lanka has asked police to increase security at the printer of the government that prints ballot papers for the March 9 local elections.

Gangani Liyanage, the government printer, has requested that 60 policemen be deployed at her office 24 hours a day to ensure security.

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Nimal Punchihewa (chairperson of the Election Commission) told reporters that a request for an increase in security arrangements was made to the Inspector General Police on Thursday.

The elections for the local council will be held in Sri Lanka on March 9, according to the announcement made by the country’s election commission in January. This ends speculation that the election could be delayed again due the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka.

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The election commission officially announced Friday that postal voting for the election would have to be rescheduled due delays on the government printer’s part.

The postal voting was scheduled to take place on February 22, 23, and 24, respectively. Public officials with election duties can apply for advance or postal voting.

Liyanage stated that she was unable to print because the treasury had not provided enough funds due to the ongoing economic crises.

According to the government printer, she was caught between the directives of the election commission and the order of a government circular that had banned all state institutions from performing services while bills were being settled.

The opposition claimed that the government printer was in collusion with the government’s power to avoid the election, fearing losing.

The election to appoint new administrations for 340 local authorities for a 4-year term has been postponed from March last year.

The majority of council seats were won by the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, (SLPP) in the 2018 elections. The party, which has been divided by the economic crisis, is accused of wanting to delay the election and fearing it. They dispute the claims of the opposition.

The international community has been alerted by the opposition parties to the government’s plans for postponement of local elections.

According to party sources, the main opposition called Thursday on the European Union office located in Colombo. The National People’s Power Party had alerted UN’s resident representative’s offices.

(This is an auto-generated, uneditable story from Syndicated News feed. LatestLY staff may not have edited or modified the content.