Media Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa said yesterday that all elections held in Sri Lanka before and after independence were ‘legal.’

Addressing the Cabinet press briefing in Colombo, he said that UNP Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya’s call for ‘legal’ elections was absurd, because all polls held in the "pre and post independence eras were legal."

Mr. Jayasuriya was obviously in a dream world. That is why, he has called for legal elections,Yapa said.

The government will ensure that the forthcoming Presidential and Parliamentary Polls are free and fair. The Elections Commissioner has the necessary power to conduct legal elections, he claimed.

Yapa said that the Cabinet of Ministers had approved a Memorandum by Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister Sarath  Amunugama, to make recommendations relevant to the restablishment of new Divisional Secretary Divisions, revision and gazetting of existing divisions, revision of Grama Niladari Divisions, and establishment of new Grama Niladari Divisions.