COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will hold parliamentary elections on August 5, more than three months late because of the coronavirus, the election commission said Wednesday after health authorities gave their approval.
Sri Lanka has been steadily lifting lockdown restrictions, although a night-time curfew remains. Schools will re-open later this month and foreign tourists will be allowed from August 1.
A mock election will be held this weekend to test new health measures that will be implemented at polling booths and counting centres, commission chairman Mahinda Deshapriya said.
The vote was originally due on April 25 but was put off and then postponed indefinitely because of the coronavirus, which has killed 11 people in Sri Lanka and infected almost 2,000, according to official data.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had been hoping the elections would give his party a two-thirds majority in parliament, allowing it to change the constitution and secure him wider powers.