opposing elections

Senior SLFPers oppose dissolution of Parliament on April 20

President Sirisena to address crucial group meeting on Sunday

April 17, 2015, 7:54 pm 

by Zacki Jabbar

With President Maithripala Sirisena stating that Parliament would be dissolved after the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, a crucial SLFP parliamentary group has been scheduled for Sunday.

Senior SLFP sources told The Island yesterday that the people had given a mandate to serve them for six years and they did not want an election any time soon."We will not support piecemeal constitutional amendments. There is no problem with shedding the draconian powers vested in the Executive Presidency, but it has to be done in conjunction with the proposed electoral reforms."

President Maithripala Sirisena is scheduled to address the SLFP Parliamentarians on Sunday evening in Colombo.

Sources pointed out that the SLFP could cohabit with the other parties that comprised the National Government for at least another year even after the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe 100-day programme had been implemented.

"The national government could be expanded further if necessary.

We are all agreed that the draconian powers vested in the executive presidency needs to be pruned and electoral reforms based on the first-past-the-Post system re-introduced with limited PR. Following the last presidential election period consensus has also emerged with regard to increasing the number of seats in the legislature from 225 to 250. If the desired reforms could be implemented in harmony there is no need to hurry to the polls nearly two years in advance" they observed.

Asked why former Ministers Bandula Gunawardena, T. B. Ekanayake, Salinda Dissanayaka, S. M. Chandrasena and Rohitha Abeygunawardena had been removed from the SLFP Central Committee, the sources said that various motives had been imputed, but the real reason was that the expelled members after having voted for a Central Committee decision that none of them should attend the ‘Bring Back Mahinda’ rallies had violated a collective decision.

The names of Nandimithra Ekanayake, Arjuna Ranatunga, Ediriweera Weerawardena, Prasanna Solangaarachchi and Hirunika Premachandra have been proposed as replacements to fill the Central Committee vacancies.