Dinesh Gunawardena Questions Relevance of Provincial Councils

29-Jul-2025

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Former Prime Minister and leader of the United People’s Freedom Alliance, Dinesh Gunawardena, stated that it is time to re-evaluate the necessity of the Provincial Council system in Sri Lanka.

He emphasized the need for a nationwide dialogue to decide whether to retain, reform, or abolish the system.

Introduced 40 years ago, Provincial Councils are facing political and legal challenges. 

No elections have been held since the last one in Uva Province in 2014 due to legal hurdles in the electoral system.

While some political and civil groups demand immediate elections, the government plans to conduct them next year.

Gunawardena criticized the system as expensive and inefficient, pointing out that development and governance are already being handled by local councils and Members of Parliament.

He noted that Provincial Councils were initially introduced to address Tamil political concerns in the North and East, but they have failed to bring meaningful change or development.

Due to changes in electoral law in 2017 and the rejection of the delimitation report in Parliament, elections cannot be held under either the new or old systems without legal amendments.

A private member’s motion has been submitted to Parliament seeking to conduct elections under the previous system.