SLFP wants electoral reforms before new Constitution, but UNP wants both together; two parties to discuss the matter further
Whether it would be electoral r e f o r ms or a new Constitution for Sri Lanka first is becoming a contentious issue between the two main partners of the Government – the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP).
The SLFP wants a 20th Amendment that will incorporate the electoral reforms to be presented in Parliament first. Its finer parameters are yet to be worked out. On the other hand, the UNP is in favour of these reforms being incorporated in the new Constitution for which a Constitutional Assembly has already started work.
The SLFP’s position played out at a recent meeting of its Central Committee. It was after Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, a member of the Steering Committee, part of the constitution making process, briefed them on the latest developments. An important revelation at the discussion was the position taken by President Maithripala Sirisena that the executive presidency should be abolished. He even strongly admonished State Minister Dilan Perera for suggesting that it should remain. Perera argued that the Executive Presidency was an antidote to situations where elections led to a hung Parliament. More so, he pointed out, was because a Westminister style of government is what is being envisaged. To back his claims further, he quoted from the advice of a reputed Norwegian expert who was in Colombo for talks with political party leaders.
Those arguments apart, President Sirisena, had assured SLFP parliamentarians when the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed last year that he would ensure the passage of the 20th Amendment with electoral reforms. This was done particularly to dissuade them from insisting on these reforms being part of 19A. If the SLFP Central Committee was unanimously in favour of electoral reforms coming in the form of 20A, most members did not support Perera’s proposal to retain the Executive Presidency. Hence, Sirisena’s insistence on abolishing the Executive Presidency amid the support voiced by the party’s CC members is an interesting pointer. If indeed this highest office in the country is abolished, either through electoral reforms or through a new Constitution, obviously the question of Sirisena contesting does not arise. That raises the all-important question – whether the SLFP would field him as its