Apart from the late established Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha, the tenure of the other 340 local government institutions is scheduled to end at midnight today.
Accordingly, the power of the 29 municipal councils of the island will be transferred to the municipal commissioners, and the power of the 36 municipal councils and the 275 local councils will be transferred to the secretaries of those institutions.
Although the term of office of all local government institutions ended last March, considering the situation in the country at that time, the Minister of Local Government extended the term of all those institutions by one year.
An election shuld held to elect new members on the 9th of this month, but as expected, the local government election could not be held on the 9th. Therefore, in this way local government bodies had to be subordinated to the control of commissioners and secretaries. The total number of local government bodies in Sri Lanka is 341.