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Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Monday, 18 September 2017 00:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Chathuri Dissanayake
The parliamentary debate on the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed indefinitely, senior ministers have confirmed.
Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the debate on the constitutional amendment is to be postponed until President Maithripala Sirisena returns from New York. «The 20th Amendment will not be debated on Wednesday as planned. We will wait until the president returns from New York on 24 September to decide on the way forward,” he told Daily FT.
The matter has become the main focus of discussions between the two political parties in the Coalition Government. The United National Party (UNP) will take the matter up for discussion today at the group meeting, senior UNP minister and Chief Government Whip Gayantha Karunathilaka told Daily FT.
Sri Lanka Freedom Party Leader, President Maithripala Sirisena, who met the membership before he left to take part in the United Nations General Assembly, has instructed his party to prepare for elections.
The Supreme Court determination on the proposed amendment has been communicated to the Speaker, who is expected to make the announcement on Tuesday.
Political sources say that the Supreme Court has determined that the amendment can be adopted only after a referendum, which the Government is unlikely to stage. Instead sources say the Government is likely to opt for elections.
The Chairman of the Elections Commission, Mahinda Deshapriya, has already announced that an election in the Eastern, Sabaragamuwa and North Central provincial councils will be held his year if the 20th Amendment is not passed in Parliament. The term of the three provinces expires on 30 September. The Election Commission is required to announce a date for the election within a week of expiry. The only available date for elections is 9 December, Deshapriya revealed last week.
President Sirisena yesterday said that the upcoming provincial council elections would be held under the electorate system. The system would apply to the general elections as well.
Deshapriya also announced this last week that if the 20th Amendment was passed, the commission would take at least a year to draw up the new electorates. Deshapriya stressed that though the process was complicated they would draw up the registers within a year’s time.
