Sri Lankan President Dissolves Parliament; Calls for Snap Poll
As per notification elections will be held on 25 April and the new Parliament will have its 1st session on 14 May.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday, 2 March, dissolved Parliament six months ahead of schedule and called a snap election on 25 April. He signed the Gazette notification dissolving Parliament from midnight tonight, the Government Printers Department said.
The current Parliament was appointed on 1 September 2015.
According to the notification, elections will be held on 25 April and the new Parliament will have its first session on 14 May .
The political parties and independent candidates can file nominations to contest the poll between 12 and 19 March.
Over 16.2 million voters are eligible to vote to elect 196 members under proportional representation and a further 29 members on national cumulative votes of each party based on proportional representation.
President Rajapaksa, who named his elder brother and former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as the prime minister of the caretaker cabinet in December, earlier said he wanted two-thirds seats in the 225-member Assembly.
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