Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Act 2012 · As enacted
48. Insertion of new sections 66A, 66B, 66C. 66D, 66E, 66F and 66G in the principal enactment
Official English translation. Where it differs from the Sinhala or Tamil text, the Act itself says which text prevails.
Official translationFrom Department of Government Printing, unchanged
The following new sections are hereby inserted immediately after section 66 of the principal enactment and shall have effect as sections 66A, 66B, 66C, 66D, 66E, 66F and 66G of that enactment :—
66A. (1) Where the office of a member of a local authority falls vacant under the provisions of the Municipal Councils
Ordinance (Chapter 252) Urban Councils
Ordinance (Chapter 255) or the Pradeshiya
Sabha Act, No. 15 of 1987, as the case may be, the returning officer appointed for the electoral area in which such local authority is situated, shall, where such vacancy is in respect of a member—
elected for any ward in that electoral area by ballot, request the secretary to the recognized political party or the leader of the independent group, as the case may be, to which such member belongs, to nominate within thirty days of the occurrence of the vacancy, any other person who is qualified under section 8 of this Ordinance to be elected as a member of local authority to fill that vacancy in the ward in which the vacancy has occurred; or
"Filling of vacancies in local authorities.
returned under section 65A of this
Ordinance then, depending on whether the candidate whose office fell vacant is from a recognized political party or an independent group, call upon the secretary of the recognized political party or the leader of the independent group, as the case may be, to nominate within thirty days of the occurrence of the vacancy a person to fill such vacancy from among those persons nominated by such recognized political party or the independent group under paragraph (b)
of subsection (1) of section 5 of the
Municipal Councils Ordinance (Chapter
252) or paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 5 of the Urban Councils
Ordinance(Chapter 255) or paragraph (b)
of subsection (1) of section 4 of the
Pradeshiya Sabha Act, No. 15 of 1987, as the case may be and where no person remains to be so nominated the returning officer shall request the secretary of the recognized political party or leader of the independent group, as the case may be, to nominate a person qualified to be elected as a member in terms of section 8 of this
Ordinance to fill such vacancy.
The candidate elected to fill a vacancy of any member of a local authority under subsection (1), shall hold office only for the unexpired period of the term of office of the member whom he succeeds.
66B.
recognized
Where any recognized political party or independent group has obtained fifty per centum or more of the total number of seats in a local authority, the Commissioner shall upon the publication by the
Commissioner under subsection (2) of section 66 of names of the candidates elected
Declaration of
Mayor, where a political party or independent group receives over fifty per centum of the seats as members of such local authority, call upon the secretary of such recognized political party or the leader of that independent group, as the case may be, to determine from among members who belong to such recognized political party or the independeent group, as the case may be, the members who shall be declared as the
Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, respectively, of such local authority.
Where the office of Mayor or Deputy
Mayor as determined under subsection (1) of this section falls vacant during the term of office of such local authority, the Commissioner shall, subject to the provisions of subsection (4) of this section, call upon the secretary of the recognized political party or the leader of the independent group, as the case, may be, to which such Mayor or the Deputy Mayor belonged, to determine the members from among the members of that local authority who belong to such recognized political party or the independent group, as the case may be, who shall become the new Mayor or the Deputy
Mayor of the local authority and communicate the same, within thirty days, to the
Commissioner. Upon receipt of such determination, the Commissioner shall declare the member named in such determination, as the new Mayor or the Deputy Mayor, as the case may be, of that local authority.
In the event that such communication is not received within the aforesaid thirty days under subsection (2), the Commissioner shall proceed to appoint as the new Mayor or deputy
Mayor, the member who has obtained the highest percentage of votes and who belongs to the recognized, political party or the independent group as the case may be, to which the Mayor or the Deputy Mayor whose office fell vacant" belonged.
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, where a vacancy occurs in the office of Mayor as a result of the
Mayor being deemed to have resigned his office under section 215A of the Municipal
Councils Ordinance (Chapter 252) or section 178A of the Urban Councils Ordinance
(Chapter 255) or section 169 of the Pradeshiya
Sabha Act, No. 15 of 1987, as the case may be, and such vacancy is filled in accordance with the procedure specified in that subsection, and the member so appointed to fill such vacancy himself resigns thereafter from his office as
Mayor under the sections referred to above, the vacancy so created shall not be filled following the procedure specified in subsection (2) of this section. In such an instance, the local authority in which the vacancy in the office of Mayor has occurred
"be deemed to be dissolved, and in terms of the powers conferred by section 2 of the Provincial
Councils (Consequential Provisions) Act, No.
12 of 1989 the Provincial Minister in charge of the subject of Local Government or the
Governor of the Province as the case may be, shall appoint a Sepcial Commissioner, for the local authority concerned who shall hold office as Special Commissioner, for the balance period remaining of the term of office of such local authority.
66C. (1) Where any recognized political party or independent group has obtained less than fifty per centum of the total number of seats in a local authority, the
Mayor and the Deputy Mayor of such
First meeting of the Local
Authority.
local authority shall be elected at the first meeting of such local authority.
The first meeting of the Council shall be convened by the Commissioner of Local
Government within one week of the publication by the Commissioner under subsection (2) of section 66, of the names of the candidates elected and returned as members of any local authority, by notice published in that behalf.
Such notice shall be given not less than seven days before the date fixed for the meeting and shall be:—
published in the Gazette and in one newspaper each, in all three languages;
and
dispatched by registered post to each of the members of that Council.
Every notice published under subsection (1), shall specify the date, time and place of the first meeting and the date to be so specified shall be a date within one month next succeeding the date appointed for the commencement of the term of office of the
Council or in the case of a Council elected as successor to a Council going out of office otherwise than by effluxion of time, within one month next succeeding the date on which the election or nomination of the members of the new Council is completed.
Where for any reason the meeting is not held on the date specified in the notice published under subsection (1), the
Commissioner of Local Government may, by further notice or notices published in that behalf, convene the meeting for any other date, so however that such other date is within one month next succeeding the date specified in the notice published under subsection (2).
66D.
Procedure for the
The first meeting and any other meeting that may be convened under section 66C until the election of a Mayor, shall be presided over by the Commissioner of Local
Government (in this section referred to as the
“presiding officer”).
Deputy or other
The members of the Council shall at its first meeting, elect one of their members to be the Mayor of the Council.
local authority.
The election of the Mayor of the
Council under subsection (2) shall not take place, unless there is present at such meeting a quorum consisting of not less than half the membership of the Council.
Any member of the Council may, with his consent, be proposed and seconded for election as Mayor by any other member present at the meeting.
Where only one name of the member is proposed and seconded for election as Mayor, the presiding officer of the meeting at which the election takes place, shall declare that member elected as the Mayor.
Where two or more names of members are proposed and seconded for election as
Mayor, the mode of election shall be by open voting, and the presiding officer shall take the votes by calling the name of each member present and asking him how he desires to vote and recording the votes accordingly. A member may decline to vote and in such a case, election of
Mayor and
Mayor at the first meeting meeting of a the presiding officer shall record the fact of such member declining to vote.
Where it is determined under subsection (6) that the election of the Mayor shall be by open voting, the pesiding officer shall take the votes by calling the name of each member present and asking him how he desires to vote and recording the votes accordingly. A member may decline to vote and in such a case, the presiding officer shall record the fact of such member declining to vote.
Where it is determined under subsection (6) that the election of a Mayor shall be by secret voting, the election shall be by ballot papers.
At the end of the proceedings for the election of a Mayor, the presiding officer shall declare the result of the voting.
66E.
Where no member obtain the required
Where the names of more than two members are proposed and seconded for election as Mayor and no single member receives at the first voting more votes than the aggregate of the votes received by the remaining members, one member shall be excluded from the election as hereinafter provided, and the voting shall proceed in the same manner, one member being excluded from the election after each subsequent voting, until a member receives more votes than the aggregate of the votes received by the remaining members at that voting or until voting in respect of two members only is held and completed, as the case may be.
votes.
The manner in which a member may be excluded from the election as referred to in subsection (1), shall be as follows :—
number of
if the number of votes received by one member is lower than the number of votes received by each of the remaining members, the candidate receiving the lowest number shall be excluded; and
if each of all the members receive an equal number of votes or if each of two or more members receives an equal number of votes which is less than the number of votes received by the remaining member or each of the remaining members, one of the members receiving the equal number of votes shall be excluded and the determination as to which of the members is to be excluded, shall be made by lot to be drawn in the presence of the presiding officer, in such manner as he shall determine.
Where there are two members at any voting and the number of votes cast is equally divided and the addition of one vote would entitle one of the members to be elected as
Mayor, the determination of the member to whom the additional vote shall be deemed to have been given, shall be made by lot to be drawn in the presence of the presiding officer, in such manner as he shall determine.
66F.
Deputy Mayor
The first Deputy Mayor of a local authority shall be elected at the first meeting of the Council held under section 66C, presided over by the newly elected Mayor.
The provisions of sections 66c and 66D shall apply in respect of the election of a
Deputy Mayor, in like manner as though every
Election of reference in those sections to “Mayor” were a reference to Deputy Mayor.
66G. Whenever the office of Mayor or
Deputy Mayor of a Council falls vacant during the term of office of such Council, the
Commissioner of Local Government shall, within two weeks of his receiving notice from the Council of such vacancy and by notice or notices served in accordance with the provisions of subsections (2) or (4) of section 66C, convene a meeting for the election of a new Mayor or Deputy Mayor, as the case may be, and the date specified for the meeting in such notice or notices shall be such as to ensure that the new Mayor or Deputy Mayor, as the case may be, is elected within six weeks next succeeding the occurrence of the vacancy.”.