Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has said the election commission has no authority to postpone the General Election without fixing an alternate date.

In a statement issued today, the PM said that the Election Commission is required to announce an alternate date for the election when it cannot be held on the date fixed by the President. It is noteworthy that general elections were scheduled for 25th of this month but got postponed because of COVID crisis.

Election commission has said it may not be possible to meet the June 2nd deadline for conduct of elections but the Prime minister said such mandatory legal requirements cannot be ignored on the basis of speculation as to what may or may not happen weeks and months into the future.

He added that the Election Commission should fulfil its duties by announcing alternate date and thereafter take up for discussion any outstanding issues. A meeting of election commission is scheduled to be held on Monday to decide upon the issue. Meanwhile, government is finalizing an exit strategy out of the crisis even as the whole country is under curfew. Four fresh COVID cases were reported today while last three days had seen only eight cases. It was announced to assign 5,000 buses and 400 trains for transportation from Monday.

Transport Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said the decision was taken to facilitate the employees to reach the employment institutions. There are 164 active cases out of total 248 infections while seven people have died of COVID so far.