CMEV supports the campaign for more youth involvement in nomination lists

An election monitor in Sri Lanka, Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) says it supports the campaign by the youth organizations requesting more representation of youth in the nominations list for the upcoming local government elections.

In a statement the CMEV said though there are many positive features of the newly introduced election system for the local government election through the Local Government Election (Amendment) Act No.22 of 2012, one of the prominent concerns in the principal Act was abolishing the youth quota which was introduced in 1990 by Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act No.25 of 1990 which required representation of 40 percent of youth candidates in the nomination lists.

This was recommended on the report of the Presidential Commission on Youth issued in 1990 which was under the Chairmanship of Prof. Lakshman Jayathilake.

The CMEV says it is a critical concern for numerous organizations especially for organizations working for and maintaining youth networks. They have come forward with campaigns seeking ways in which leaders from political parties could maintain a considerable proportion for youth candidates in their nomination lists.

One of the youth networks working island wide, known as LYON Sri Lanka has visited CMEV to discuss this matter and strategically plan their campaign in order to effectively request more youth candidates into the nomination lists.

Nominations for 93 local government bodies are being accepted from December 11 to 14 noon while the nominations for the other 248 local government institutions will be accepted from the 18th to the 21st noon.