Parliament readies itself to welcome new President

• Ceremonial sitting will commence at 10 a.m. Friday after hoisting of National Flag and 21-gun salute
• President will make policy statement of his Government to Legislature
• Gotabhaya first to be elected to President's office without having first served as a MP

The ceremonial sitting of the new Parliamentary session will commence at 10 a.m. on 3 January with newly-elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa scheduled to make his inaugural address to the House.

He is the first President to be elected to office without having served as a Member of Parliament (MP) prior to his election as President. 

President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa

The new session will commence ending the prorogation of Parliament which the President did on 2 December in keeping with the powers vested in him under t Article 70 (1) of the Constitution.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and the Secretary General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayaka will welcome the President when he arrives for the ceremonial sitting of the Legislature which will be followed by hoisting of the National Flag by the President. This will be followed by the 21-gun salute.

The President will be accompanied to the House of Parliament by the Serjeant-at-Arms, Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms and Assistant Serjeant-at-Arms followed by the Speaker of Parliament and the Secretary General of Parliament where the session will be ceremonially declared open.

The President will chair the inaugural session which will commence at 10 a.m. where he will deliver the statement of the new Government’s policy and will suspend the House following the presenting of the policy statement.

The first session of the first Parliament was held on 14 October 1947. It was ceremonially opened and presided over by Governor Sir Henry Monck-Mason Moore. He delivered the throne speech, which was debated by Parliament and passed by a vote of thanks.

The third session of the second Parliament was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II. She ceremonially inaugurated the session on 12 April 1954.

With the enactment of the new Constitution in 1978, the Government’s policy statement given by the President replaced the throne speech at the beginning of the new sessions.