Think beyond party lines: President

In an address to parliament prior to the debate on the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, President Maithripala Sirisena requested all political parties to think beyond party lines and support the enactment of the constitutional amendment in the greater interest of the country.

The President, in his 15 minute speech, said though the debate began yesterday, there was time till noon today for the political parties to engage in consultations to iron out whatever differences on the contents of the bill.

He said this was a historic occasion afforded to the MPs to enact constitutional reforms primarily aimed at strengthening good governance and the pruning of executive powers.

"The executive presidency has been in place for 37 years since 1978. The need to prune the draconian powers of the executive presidency has been debated and discussed in the public domain times without end. Today, our people, including schoolchildren, have a better understanding of the issues surrounding the executive presidency," he said.

The President said though the present Constitution had been amended on a number of occasions, only the 13thAmendment and the 17th Amendment sought to restrict the powers of the executive presidency in one way or the other.

He said no other leader had been as flexible as he was in seeking to prune the absolute powers vested in him under the present system.

The President said the government had been able to win over the trust of the international community because of the progressive steps it had taken since assuming office.

"Sri Lanka has no enemies in the international community," he said and added that seven Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MPs opposed the executive presidency and the preferential voting system when they were promulgated in 1978.

The President said both he and his rival presidential candidate Mahinda Rajapaksa had pledged to prune the executive powers in their election manifestos.

He said this means that the 6.2 million people who voted for him and the 5.8 million who voted for Mr. Rajapaksa were keen on enacting these reforms.