Parliament heading for mid-June dissolution?

* All parties except UPFA oppose 255-member legislature
* Consensus on 20th Amendment recedes

by Zacki Jabbar-May 31, 2015, 12:00 pm 

With the government hesitant to disregard objections raised by smaller parties to the proposed 20th Amendment to the Constitution and its enactment hanging in the balance, a dissolution of Parliament seems likely by about the middle of June.

Government sources said yesterday  that  even though President Maithripala Sirisena  was  doing his best to introduce the   First Past the Post and Limited PR (FPP&LPR) System prior to  dissolution of the national legislature, he may be compelled to hold the next General Election under the current electoral system if the smaller parties including the JVP, SLMC and those representing the estate Tamils continued to oppose the suggested reforms.

"All parties except the UPFA have objected to the number of seats in Parliament being increased from 225 to 255 as a means of arriving at a consensus on FPP&LPR. In this scenario the possibility of enacting 20A is receding by the day", the sources noted. "It appears  a mid-June  dissolution is a distinct possibility."

While the UNP has called for  125 MP’s to be elected on FPP and the other 100 on PR , the JVP and SLMC want the MPs to be elected on a 50-50 basis with two ballot papers being issued to the voter.

Leader of the House and Plantation Industries Minister Lakshman Kiriella said that the UNP was opposed to an increase in the number of parliamentarians.

"India with a population of 1.4 billion people has only 545 MPs, so how can we justify having 255 legislators for a population of a little over 20 million? The UPFA is trying to delay the dissolution of the House as long as possible by taking differing positions on 20A. President Sirisena was elected on a pledge to hold Parliamentary Polls at the end of his 100-day program, but we are now well past that deadline. Meanwhile, people are clamouring for early elections. It’s our duty to given them an opportunity with or without 20A."

Asked why polls could not be held under the proposed FPP & LPR System in the event that the President was able to persuade the smaller parties to support the 20th Amendment Bill, he replied that there was no agreement to begin with and the crux of the issue was survival in the political arena.

General Secretary of the UPFA, Susil Premajayanth insisted that the Delimitation Commission established by the recently enacted 19th Amendment could re-draw the electoral boundaries in time for a September election .But, Sirisena says that a new government would be in place by September, meaning polls would be held earlier.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe  recently  requested the President to ensure that the General Election  be conducted in July.

Parliament, is scheduled to meet on June 3, for the purpose of  approving the names of three non-MP’s nominated to serve on the 10-member Constitutional Council. They are former Appeal Court Judge A. W. A Salaam,  Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy and Dr.A.T.Ariyaratne.

The sources said that Srisena  having ensured the passage of the 19th Amendment , though in a diluted form in comparison to the original Bill, wanted the Constitutional Council (CC) appointed prior to dissolving the legislature, having seen how  the now defunct 17th Amendment which established the Independent Public Service, Elections, Judicial and National Police Commissions on October 3, 2001 not being activated all these years due to the CC not being constituted.

The 19th Amendment has established  Independent Elections, Public Service, National Police, Audit Service, Human Rights, Bribery or Corruption, Finance, Delimitation, National Procurement and University Grants Commissions.