(Riya Singh, Intern Journalist): All Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election rallies have been temporarily canceled, the SLPP announced on Sunday. The island nation’s Parliamentary elections are scheduled for August 5. The country has recorded 2,511 cases and 11 deaths so far.
The Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP) said all election rallies scheduled for July 12, 13, and 14 have been canceled. The announcement came as since the middle of this week the country recorded a jump in Covid-19 cases. On Friday Sri Lanka reported the largest single-day outbreak of 300 cases of coronavirus. On Saturday 57 more cases were registered.
Owing to the coronavirus epidemic in the island country, the election commission in mid-April delayed the polls by almost two months until June 20th. The commission told the Supreme Court last month that the polls cannot be held on June 20 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the new date was agreed after a consensus decision between committee members.
The nation includes more than 16 million registered voters. Polling on August 5 will elect a Parliament of 225 members for a five-year term. The Sri Lanka Medical Association also voiced concern about the “blatant lack” of measures necessary to control the spread of the deadly virus.
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