PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED
GENERAL ELECTIONS ON JAN. 5 NOMINATIONS BETWEEN NOV. 19 AND 26 FIRST SITTING OF NEW PARLIAMENT ON JAN. 17
President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved Parliament last night ending a two-week long political impasse that prevailed in the country since the sudden unseating of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister by the President on October 26.
Cabinet co-spokesman and State Minister for Media and Digital Infrastructure Keheliya Rambukwela told the Daily Mirror that the President signed the gazette notification on the dissolution of the Parliament last evening. Earlier in the day security had been tightened in and around the Government Press where the gazette notification was to be printed and employees of the government Press had been kept on alert for an emergency task.
Former UPFA Parliamentarian Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said that the nominations for the next General Election would be tendered between November 19 and 26 and the election would be held on January 5.
The first meeting of the new parliament would be held on January 17.
He also said that the President has dissolved Parliament under the powers vested in him by the Constitution.
The gazette notification issued yesterday by the President said “... by virtue of the powers vested in me by paragraph (5) of the Article 70 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to be read with paragraph (2) (c) of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and paragraph (2) of the Article 62 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and in pursuance of provisions of Section 10 of the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981 , I, Maithriapala Sirisena, President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka do by this proclamation (a) dissolve Parliament with effect from midnight today and summon the new Parliament to meet on the seventeenth day of January, two
“...by virtue of the powers vested in me by paragraph (5) of the Article 70 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to be read with paragraph (2) (c) of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and paragraph (2) of the Article 62 of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and in pursuance of provisions of Section 10 of the Parliamentary Elections Act No. 1 of 1981 , I, Maithriapala Sirisena, President of Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka do by this proclamation (a) dissolve Parliament with effect from midnight today and summon the new Parliament to meet on the seventeenth day of January, two thousand and nineteen...”
thousand and nineteen...”
After the appointment of Mr. Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister on October 26 the President had prorogued Parliament on October 27 till November 16. And with pressure mounting on the President to convene Parliament immediately he issued a new proclamation convening Parliament on November 14.
Amidst speculations that the new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa did not command the confidence of the majority of Parliament members as required by the Constitution, former Speaker Karu Jayasuriya insisted on Wednesday that the no confidence motion that had been presented by the UNP must be taken up for debate and put to vote once the Parliament meets on November 14. The European Union and like-minded countries had said in a statement yesterday that it was essential to allow Parliament to demonstrate its confidence by voting immediately when reconvened, so as to resolve the serious uncertainties currently facing the country. It is also learnt that the President has sought the opinion of legal experts on his powers to dissolve Parliament prior to the decision on the dissolution of the Parliament. Senior lawyers and retired judges including former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva had explained to the President the legal position on the matter.
The sources from the Presidential Secretariat said that the President signed the gazette notification on the dissolution of the Parliament after filling the vacancies in the Cabinet.