NPP won the Colombo Mayor’s Seat

The Colombo Municipal Council has elected Vraie Cally Balthazaar, a candidate from the National People’s Power political party (NPP), as the new Mayor in a secret ballot held this morning.

A tense situation arose this morning over how the election for the Mayor’s post should be conducted, and then a unanimous decision was made to hold a secret ballot.

Vraie Cally Balthazaar received 61 votes in favor, while opposition candidate Mohamed Riza Saruk received 54 votes. The total number of votes was 117, with 2 votes being rejected.

The local government elections were held on May 6, but no party received a clear majority, so the council met for the first time today – Monday, June 16, after months of struggle.

Although the ruling National People’s Power Party won a majority of the 117 seats in the election, namely 48 seats, opposition members exceeded this number, and the National People’s Power Party lost the ability to appoint a mayor independently.

END.

MMP