Sri Lanka postponed local elections once more on Tuesday delaying a de facto vote on President Ranil Wickremesinghe's.

 SRI LANKA DISOBEDIENCE COURT ORDER BY DELAYING LOCAL ELECTIONS AGAIN

 

COLOMBO: In defiance of a court ruling, Sri Lanka postponed local elections once more on Tuesday, delaying a de facto vote on President Ranil Wickremesinghe's efforts to repair the island nation's finances. The Wickremesinghe administration refused to provide funding for the elections, claiming that it was necessary to cover salaries and pensions. The polls were initially supposed to take place last month.

 

The Supreme Court censured his administration and ordered the funds to be released for a rescheduled vote on April 25; however, this has not yet taken place. The postponed elections, which will select local council members, will be Wickremesinghe's first electoral test since taking government. The electoral commission issued a brief statement saying, "A new date will be announced if a firm date is offered by the government to disburse the necessary cash or there is another Supreme Court judgment."

 

The biggest economic crisis Sri Lanka has experienced since gaining independence from Britain in 1948 led to severe shortages of food, fuel, and pharmaceuticals as well as protracted blackouts last year. Last July, after several months of demonstrations and political unrest, Wickremesinghe's predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced from office after a mob stormed his residence.

 

The results of the polls are sometimes seen as a vote on unpopular austerity measures, such as a steep increase in energy prices and a doubling of income taxes, that were put in place to meet the requirements of a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. Wickremesinghe has been charged by opposition parliamentarians with using the economic crisis as a pretext to undermine democracy by postponing the election.

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