Delayed 19th Amendment Highlighted Root Course Of Ethnic Minority Problem

By Jehan Perera -June 24, 2013 |

Jehan Perera

There has been an unexplained delay in the government’s plan to present a 19th Amendment to the constitution as an urgent bill to Parliament. As a result there is speculation that the government might have postponed its presentation, at least for the time being.  There had been opposition from both ethnic minority political parties and the government’s own left wing parties to the passage of the 19th Amendment which seeks to weaken the 13th Amendment.  It is possible that internal dissension is the cause of the delay.  However, President Mahinda Rajapaksa also declared he knew how to obtain a two-thirds majority in Parliament. He repeated this assertion at the Government Parliamentary Group last Monday at the Presidential Secretariat. He also added that if needed he would also be able to get some votes from the main opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians.

Delayed 19th Amendment Highlighted Root Course of Ethnic Minority Problem by nelvely