A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Tuesday, August 8, 2017
PRIME MINISTER’S ‘CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT‘ IS A PLOY TO DELAY ELECTIONS
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is attempting to delay elections
through coming up with bogus ‘constitutional amendments’, Keerthi
Tennakoon says adding that the gazette on the draft bills on the 20th
Constitutional amendment, issued on July 28, is an attempt to delay the
holding of Provincial Council elections until October 2019, when the
tenure of the Uva Provincial Council ends.
“Wickremesinghe has exposed his desire not to face any election till the
end of President Maithripala Sirisena’s tenure in December 2019,”he
has said. Tennakoon added that the Prime Minister wishes to accomplish
three objectives through these ‘constitutional amendments.
1. Holding all Provincial Councils on one day and giving parliament the power to decide when to dissolve the councils
2. To extend the tenure of some provincial councils to hold the elections in one day.
3. Vesting the powers of the councils with Parliament when they are dissolved.
“It is undemocratic to authorize parliament to run a provincial council
when it has been dissolved. To postpone elections one needs to go for a
referendum as well as two thirds majority in Parliament. This is clear
stated in the verdict on Karunathilaka And Another V. Dayananda
Dissanayake, Commissioner of elections in 1999,” Tennakoon said.
Former president JR Jayewardene postponed elections by going for a
‘referendum’. Presidents Chandrka Bandaranaike, Mahinda Rajapaksa and
Maithripala Sirisena have all postponed elections. The current prime
minister along with several political parties that are hesitant to go
for elections is now attempting to postpone elections by gazetting the
draft bills on the 20th Constitutional amendment and Provincial Councils
Elections Act.
One of the main election promises of the government was electoral
amendments. It is disheartening to see the same administration using
constitutional amendments’ to delay elections.