Sri Lanka’s upcoming parliamentary election, scheduled to take place this week, will be the “most expensive election” in the island’s history according to officials, as the island struggles with an economic crisis in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The entire poll process will cost at least 10 billion rupees, an inflated budget compared to other years mostly due to several health precautions and deployment of additional staff,” Election Chief Mahinda Deshapriya said to the Daily Mirror.
"We are trying to limit it,” Deshapriya added. “This is the most expensive election in history as we have to deploy additional staff along with face masks, sanitisers and all other health guidelines. We hope we can reduce the cost and keep it at 10 billion rupees.”
The elections come as Sri Lanka’s economy faces turmoil with hundreds of millions of dollars of heavy loan repayments due.
