Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Faiszer Mustapha said that the government was hoping to hold the Local Government Elections before June this year.

Speaking to the media yesterday, he pointed out that during the run up to the 2015 Presidential Election, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe made a promise to abolish the existing preferential voting system for parliamentary elections.

He further noted that the government has received over 1000 appeals with regard to the delimitation process. A majority of appeals have come from the Northern Province. These complaints have to be resolved before the election, the Minister said.