Sarvajana Balaya to back opposition candidate in Colombo Mayoral election
The ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ alliance has decided to support the candidate nominated by the Opposition parties for the post of the Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council during today’s vote.
Leader of the Sarvajana Balaya, Parliamentarian Dilith Jayaweera said the Executive Committee of the alliance decided to vote against the candidate nominated by the National People’s Power (NPP).
The newly elected Colombo Municipal Council, following the conduct of the Local Government (LG) election on May 6, is scheduled to convene for its inaugural sitting this morning (16).
The gazette extraordinary in this regard was issued by the Commissioner of the Department of Local Government of the Western Province, Sarangika Jayasundara.
According to the gazette issued by the Commissioner, the inaugural sitting will commence at 9:30 a.m.
During the meeting scheduled to be held at the Town Hall, the election of the new Mayor and the Deputy Mayor will take place as the first order of business.
No party obtained an outright majority following the conduct of the LG election and therefore both the National People’s Power (NPP) and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) have announced in recent days that they have secured the backing of other political factions to elect a Mayor.
According to the LG election results, the National People’s Power (NPP) secured 48 seats, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) obtained 29 seats, the United National Party (UNP) won 13 seats, and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) gained 5 seats.
Additionally, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress received 4 seats, Independent Group No. 03 obtained three seats, the Sarvajana Balaya received two seats, and the United Peace Alliance also secured two seats according to the election results.
Independent Groups No. 04 and 05 received two seats each.
Furthermore, the United Republic Front, the National People’s Party, the National Freedom Front, the Podujana United Front, the Democratic National Alliance, Independent Group No. 01, and Independent Group No. 02 each received one seat.
However, to establish power in the Colombo Municipal Council, which consists of 117 seats, a party must secure at least 59 seats.
Accordingly, following the vote scheduled to be held this morning, the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council will be appointed.