All presidential candidates are required to submit a full report on their election campaign spending to the Election Commission within 21 days after the results are announced. If they fail to do so, they risk losing the presidency, says Election Commissioner General Saman Sri Ratnayake.
In a media statement, the Commissioner-General explained that the Election Expenditure Act No. 03 of 2023 sets the legal limits on campaign spending. Exceeding these limits is illegal and may lead to legal action.
“Under the Election Expenditure Limitation Act, spending more than the allowed amount is not permitted. Candidates must submit a detailed report of their income and expenses within 21 days after the election results are announced. This report will be displayed publicly for 10 days. If any candidate is found to have overspent, their office can be revoked through a court decision,” Mr. Ratnayake said.
A senior official mentioned that the Election Commission plans to finalize these spending limits soon. Currently, political parties argue that spending 20 rupees per voter in a presidential election is insufficient and have proposed increasing the limit to 250-400 rupees. According to a report by the *Mawbima* newspaper, some parties have also requested to set the spending limit at 7 billion rupees. This would mean that the main parties and candidates may need to spend over 30 billion rupees in the upcoming general elections
