SNAP ELECTIONS ON JANUARY 5, SAYS SIRISENA

COLOMBO: After dissolving Parliament on Friday, Sri Lanka’s president called for snap elections on January 5 in a bid to stave off a deepening political crisis over his dismissal of Ranil Wickremasinghe as prime minister.

A formal notification on Saturday signed by President Maithripala Sirisena said the names of candidates will be called before November 26 and the new Parliament is to convene on January 17.

The island nation has been in a crisis since October 26, when Sirisena fired Wickremesinghe as PM and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa.

In a late development on Saturday, Wickremesinghe decided to challenge his ouster in Supreme Court on Monday.

Foreign Minister Sarath Amunugama said the reason for the president to dissolve Parliament was the need to go to the people to find a resolution to the crisis.