{"id":69530,"date":"2020-07-14T00:09:57","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T05:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=69530"},"modified":"2020-07-14T02:34:26","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T07:34:26","slug":"recent-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-in-sri-lanka-makes-election-commission-hope-and-pray-that-the-general-election-could-be-conducted-on-august-5-as-scheduled-says-its-chairman-mahind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=69530","title":{"rendered":"Recent Spike in Coronavirus Cases in Sri Lanka Makes Election Commission \u201chope and pray\u201d that the general election could be conducted on August 5 as scheduled Says its Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya"},"content":{"rendered":"

By<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka is \u201cclosely monitoring\u201d the situation following a recent spike in coronavirus cases, and \u201chopes and prays\u201d that the general election \u2014 that was postponed earlier \u2014 could be conducted on August 5 as scheduled, its Chairman said.<\/p>\n

Postal voting for the island nation\u2019s parliamentary election began on Monday \u2014 with some 700,000 officials eligible to vote \u2014 amid heightened security, after health authorities reported a spike in COVID-19 cases on Friday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nearly 500 persons at a drug rehabilitation centre in the North Central Province have since tested positive, prompting health officials to trace their contacts and test them.<\/p>\n

The government, keen on \u201cpreventing a second wave\u201d, is yet to comment on the source of these infections \u2014 after Sri Lanka contained the spread of the virus \u2014 while senior doctors flagged a risk of community transmission.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s parliamentary election \u2014 conducted at an estimated cost over LKR 5 billion \u2014 will enable voters to directly elect 196 MPs to the 225-member legislature, and 29 others through the National List, through a proportional representation system of voting.<\/p>\n

\u2018Obey the guidelines\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are closely monitoring the situation,\u201d Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told The Hindu on Monday. Asked if there was provision to postpone the polls after postal voting has begun, should the need arise, he said: \u201cProvision is there, but we hope and pray not to use it. We have already postponed the elections by more than 100 days [from original date of April 25]. The important thing is that politicians and general public must obey health guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spike in cases<\/strong><\/p>\n

As of Monday evening, Sri Lanka reported 2,642 cases, 1,981 recoveries and 11 deaths.<\/p>\n

With the recent increase in coronavirus cases, schools that had only recently reopened have shut again, while the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP or People\u2019s Party) suspended its rallies for three days. Former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, contesting polls from the opposition United National Party (UNP), has called for a postponement of polls, local media reported.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan The Election Commission of Sri Lanka is \u201cclosely monitoring\u201d the situation following a recent spike in coronavirus cases, and \u201chopes and prays\u201d that the general election \u2014 that was postponed earlier \u2014 could be conducted on August 5 as scheduled, its Chairman said. Postal voting for the island nation\u2019s parliamentary election began …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Recent Spike in Coronavirus Cases in Sri Lanka Makes Election Commission \u201chope and pray\u201d that the general election could be conducted on August 5 as scheduled Says its Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69531,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69530\/revisions\/69531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}