Addressing the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Department of Elections held at BMICH on Wednesday (Sept.30), the Premier said all the parties before the end of the year will reach an agreement on which system to use.

The PM said the challenge before the political parties is to decide whether a combination of the Proportional Representation (PR) and the First Past the Post (FPP) system or the two systems in parallel is the best for the country.

Drawing attention to lack of female representation in Sri Lankan parliament and in local government bodies, the PM said the government hopes to increase female representation in public institutions to 25 percent before the next local government elections. He added that the local government polls will be held in March next year.

Attention has also been focused on introducing a new method to cast the vote and to limit the expenditure of a candidates during election campaigns, the Premier said.

Democracy will be further strengthened by establishing the Elections Commission under the 19th constitutional amendment. The Prime Minister added the parliament has become stronger with the formation of national government.

Election Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya, former Presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa, Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan, former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne and several political representatives were also present at the event.