COLOMBO, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government will call for nominations for its long-delayed local government elections in January next year, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

Addressing journalists in Colombo, cabinet spokesman and Minister of Health and Mass Media Nalinda Jayatissa said the government wants to hold the local government election as soon as possible because it has been postponed for years and these delays are affecting rural development.

He said that nominations for the elections were called in early 2023, but there are some issues with the nominations submitted by political parties given that almost two years have passed.

Jayatissa said the government will meet leaders of political parties in the coming days about the nominations submitted in 2023.

"In August 2024, the Supreme Court ordered the government to hold the local government elections as soon as possible. The question is whether we call for elections keeping the existing nomination lists or call for nominations anew because a lot of changes have taken place in the political landscape in the past two years," he said.

After the decision is taken in the next few days, the government will allocate money for the local government elections and the date of the elections will be announced, he said.

Sri Lanka has four main types of elections: presidential, parliamentary, provincial council, and local government. Both provincial council and local government elections, which are significantly overdue, are now set to take place in 2025. Enditem

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