Vraie Cally Balthazaar of the National People’s Power (NPP) has been elected as the new Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), a short while ago.

Councilor Vraie Cally Balthazaar was elected the new Colombo Mayor following a secret ballot.

During the secret ballot, Councilor Balthazaar received 61 votes while Riza Zarook of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) obtained 54 votes.

Two votes were rejected, according to Commissioner of the Department of Local Government of the Western Province, Sarangika Jayasundara who presided over the voting.

Earlier, the proposal to hold a secret ballot to elect the Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council was passed unanimously.

Although a decision was taken to hold a secret ballot in agreement with all members, initially the SJB and the United National Party (UNP) requested an open vote.

However, the NPP councilors opposed the proposal.

Subsequently, a heated situation arose in the council regarding whether the Mayor is to be elected through a secret ballot or by holding an open vote.

Following a lengthy exchange, councilors agreed to hold a secret ballot to elect the new Mayor.

Commissioner Sarangika Jayasundara then announced that two names have been proposed for the post of Mayor.

Accordingly, the NPP had proposed the name of Vraie Cally Balthazaar while the SJB had nominated the name of Riza Zarook for the post of Mayor.

Following the counting of votes, which took place at the Town Hall, the Commissioner announced that Councilor Vraie Cally Balthazaar has been elected as the new Mayor of Colombo.

The newly elected Colombo Municipal Council, following the conduct of the Local Government (LG) election on May 6, convened for the inaugural sitting this morning.

The sitting commenced at 9:30 a.m. under the patronage of the Commissioner of the Department of Local Government of the Western Province, Sarangika Jayasundara.

The gazette extraordinary regarding the first sitting of the Colombo Municipal Council was issued by the Commissioner of the Department of Local Government of the Western Province, Sarangika Jayasundara.

No party obtained an outright majority following the conduct of the LG election and therefore both the NPP and the SJB announced in recent days that they had secured the backing of other political factions to elect a Mayor.

According to the LG election results, the National People’s Power (NPP) secured 48 seats, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) obtained 29 seats, the United National Party (UNP) won 13 seats, and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) gained 5 seats.

Additionally, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress received 4 seats, Independent Group No. 03 obtained three seats, the Sarvajana Balaya received two seats, and the United Peace Alliance also secured two seats according to the election results.

Independent Groups No. 04 and 05 received two seats each.

Furthermore, the United Republic Front, the National People’s Party, the National Freedom Front, the Podujana United Front, the Democratic National Alliance, Independent Group No. 01, and Independent Group No. 02 each received one seat.

However, to establish power in the Colombo Municipal Council, which consists of 117 seats, a party must secure at least 59 seats.

Accordingly, a vote was taken to elect the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council.