17 March 2019<\/p>\n
The Chairperson and members of the Elections Commission
\nElections Commission
\nRajagiriya<\/p>\n
Dear Chairman Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya
\nCommissioners Prof. Rathnajeevan Hoole and Mr. N. J Abeysekera<\/p>\n
Postponement of nominations process and Parliamentary elections<\/strong><\/p>\n We are five women\u2019s organisations working at the national as well as the regional level to strengthen women\u2019s representation in politics and have on many occasions over the past 15 years interacted with both the Department of Elections as well as the Elections Commission.<\/p>\n We ourselves began working at the district level since the dissolution of Parliament to canvass political parties to increase nominations for women and also to encourage political parties to nominate suitable candidates both men and women to contest the scheduled Parliamentary election. We are therefore aware of the various meetings and mobilisations that have been taking place, in Colombo and at district level in the run up to the final day of nominations.<\/p>\n We have also been deeply concerned about the current COVID-19 crisis and now understand the extremely vital need to prevent the spread of the virus in our communities and to promote responsible behavior amongst everyone.<\/p>\n In the light of this national emergency and the need to follow strict guidelines for social distancing as one critical measure to curb the spread of the virus we write to call upon the Elections Commission to take urgent steps to postpone the Parliamentary election as well as halt the nomination process, which inevitably requires public gatherings and movement that will be impossible to monitor or control.<\/p>\n We hope you will discuss this matter with all relevant authorities and take immediate and urgent steps to postpone the Parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n Thank you<\/p>\n Sincerely,<\/p>\n Kumudini Samuel and Viola Perera, Women and Media Collective, Colombo 17 March 2019 The Chairperson and members of the Elections Commission Elections Commission Rajagiriya Dear Chairman Mr. Mahinda Deshapriya Commissioners Prof. Rathnajeevan Hoole and Mr. N. J Abeysekera Postponement of nominations process and Parliamentary elections We are five women\u2019s organisations working at the national as well as the regional level to strengthen women\u2019s representation in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,41,16,115,31,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-gender-politics","category-news","category-political-and-social-transformation","category-politics","category-womens-representation"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSumika Perera, Women\u2019s Recource Centre, Kurunegala
\nChandra Wedagedara, Women\u2019s Development Centre, Badulla
\nH. Inthumathy Viluthu, Colombo, Trincomalee, Vanni and Jaffna
\nLogeshwari, Women\u2019s Solidarity Front, Kandy
\nSriyani Pathirage, Rural Women\u2019s Front, Galle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"