Oct 10, Colombo: Chairperson and the Leader of Sri Lanka parliament, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva and Treasurer of ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), Minister Dallas Alahapperuma announced that the steps to abolish the preferential vote system would be initiated today.

Addressing a media conference held in Mahaweli Center, the Ministers made this announcement following the passage of the Local Government Special Provisions Act and the Local Government Election Amendment Act in the parliament today.

The preferential vote system to elect the representatives for the local government bodies has been amended by the two bills.

The Ministers said that the preferential vote system which was badly criticized for more than three decades will be replaced with a mixed system preferential votes and first past the post system.

The new system will be introduced next for the Provincial Councils and then for the parliamentary elections.

There was a growing concern in Sri Lanka that the present election system of preferential votes leads to the lawlessness in the country during the elections and the system needs to be changed to avoid clashes between members of the same party.

The draft proposal for the amendments was compiled through consultations coordinated under the leadership of Minister Dinesh Gunawardena considering the suggestions and proposals of political parties, intellectuals and think tanks.