FrontPage, Vol. 11, No. 102
Daily delivery of political summaries
Photo credits: News.lk
The Mayor of Colombo is Vraie Balthazaar: Council heated over the secret vote: 61 votes for NPP’s Balthazaar and 54 votes for SJB’s Zarook
Lankadeepa, Divaina, Ada, Mawbima, Dinamina, Aruna, Virakesari, Thinakaran, Thinakkural, Thamilan
Power over the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) was established yesterday (16th) when NPP’s Vraie Cally Balthazaar received 61 votes and was elected as the new Mayor of Colombo.
Hemantha Kumara of the NPP was also officially appointed as the Deputy Mayor of the CMC.
Vraie Balthazaar is the second female mayor of the CMC in history, while former Mayor Rosy Senanayake was the first female mayor appointed to the CMC.
Since no party or group that contested the Local Government (LG) election was able to secure a majority over the CMC, the inaugural meeting of the Council was held yesterday (16th) morning under the leadership of Western Provincial Commissioner of Local Government, Sarangika Kalhari Jayasundara.
With the nomination of two members for the position of mayor of the council, a heated situation arose regarding whether the vote should be held as a secret ballot or an open vote, but eventually all parties agreed to proceed with a secret ballot. Accordingly, Balthazaar was elected as mayor of Colombo after receiving 61 votes while Riza Zarook, who was nominated by the opposition, received only 54 votes.
IMF representative meets the president | “The anti-corruption bill is essential for Sri Lanka” – First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF Gita Gopinath
Lankadeepa, Ada, Dinamina, Virakesari, Thinakaran, Thinakkural, Thamilan
First Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dr. Gita Gopinath, yesterday (16th), affirmed to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake that the IMF will continue to provide support for restoring Sri Lanka’s economy and for the government’s economic reform program.
The IMF delegation including Gopinath, who arrived in Sri Lanka, met with the president yesterday (16th) morning at the Presidential Secretariat.
During the meeting, Gopinath stated that she is very pleased with the progress Sri Lanka has made so far from a severely crisis-ridden situation.
The Tamil press highlighted quoting Dr. Gita Gopinath, the need for Sri Lanka to establish a legal framework to support anti-corruption policies.
She noted that increased investment opportunities are linked to growing trust in the country's governance.
Click here to find out more about the different priorities in the Sinhala and Tamil press