{"id":41613,"date":"2015-06-09T01:03:01","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T05:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=41613"},"modified":"2015-06-09T01:03:01","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T05:03:01","slug":"cabinet-approves-prime-minister-wickremesinghes-proposals-for-elections-reform-through-20th-constitutional-amendment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=41613","title":{"rendered":"Cabinet Approves Prime Minister Wickremesinghe\u2019s Proposals for Elections Reform Through 20th Constitutional Amendment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bringing an end to an impasse, the cabinet of ministers, during a special session held last night, approved Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s proposal for the election of legislators under the 20th Amendment to the Constitution.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe proposed that the 20th Amendment to the Constitution introduce provisions for 125 members of a 225-member legislature to be elected through the First-Past-the-Post (FPP) or majoritarian system, with 75 members elected based on proportional representation (PR).<\/p>\n

Premier Wickremesinghe proposed that 25 MPs enter Parliament through the national list.
\nDeputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ajith P. Perera said Cabinet had approved the Prime Minister\u2019s recommendations during last night\u2019s special session.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) had also put forward proposals to shape the 20th Amendment but the Cabinet decided to support the Prime Minister\u2019s recommendations instead, sources from the meeting told Daily FT.<\/p>\n

It now remains to be seen whether the Cabinet-approved proposals will find favour with the majority UPFA Parliament, which made the immediate passage of the 20th Amendment its condition for supporting the 19th Amendment, which curbed presidential powers and restored independent commissions to oversee key state institutions.<\/p>\n

The Opposition, which still holds a large majority in the House, managed to obtain a commitment from President Maithripala Sirisena that the current Parliament would not be dissolved until the electoral reforms were passed. Even if the reforms are adopted by the House in its next sessions, however, the forthcoming parliamentary elections will be held under the existing PR system. <\/p>\n


\nParliament will Retain 225 MP Limit with 125 Elected on First Past the Post, 75 on District Wise Proportionate Representation and 25 on Island Wide National List<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Cabinet last night gave its nod to the 20th Amendment dealing with electoral reforms.<\/p>\n

After considering arguments presented by members representing the UNP, the SLFP and the SLMC the Cabinet finally decided to proceed with a legislature of 225 MPs.<\/p>\n

The 225 MP legislature was the stand taken by the UNP and the SLFP, which earlier lobbied for a legislature of 255 MPs, finally agreed to compromise.<\/p>\n

The 225 MP legislature will include 125 MPs elected under the first past the post system, 75 MPs under the PR system and 25 MPs under national list. The 75 MPs elected under the PR system will represent districts.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking at the Cabinet meeting, presented the proposal on 225 MP legislature and stressed the importance of not increasing the number of seats in Parliament.<\/p>\n

Several Cabinet members, including Ministers Laskhman Kiriella, Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe and Ajith P. Perera, endorsed the Prime Ministers views and stated that increasing the number of seats in Parliament would be a burden on the public. <\/p>\n

Some Cabinet members, including Minister Rajitha Senaratne and S.B. Dissanayake, proposed to have a legislature of 255 MPs. However, after lengthy deliberations, they agreed to settle with the proposal presented by the Prime Minister. Several Cabinet members stated that concerns of minorities should be addressed when adopting electoral reforms. They also proposed various alternate measures \u2013 including a \u2018double ballot paper system\u2019 – to ensure a fair minority representation in Parliament.<\/p>\n

Cabinet members including Rauff Hakeem, Rishad Bathiudeen and P. Digambaram, who represented minority political parties, strongly backed this proposal. However, the majority of Cabinet members turned down this proposal stating it would complicate the entire system.<\/p>\n

At this point, President Maithripala Sirisena assured that no injustice would be done to minorities when conducting delimitation and that the government would ensure a fair minority representation.<\/p>\n

Legal Draftsman Aruna Shantha de Silva and Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya were also present at the Cabinet meeting yesterday. It was stated at the meeting that the new draft could be prepared within four days and it would be immediately presented to the Cabinet.<\/p>\n

Addressing the Cabinet briefing, President Maithripala Sirisena had said that the forthcoming Parliamentary election would be held under the present electoral system.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, it was stated at the Cabinet meeting that President would hold discussions with party leaders of the UPFA on abandoning the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister to pave way for the 20th Amendment in Parliament. Political sources told the Daily News that the discussion between the President and the UPFA party leaders would be held on June 9th.<\/p>\n

A senior Cabinet member said that the government would make its utmost effort to complete the whole process within four weeks. He also added that the \u201cdelicate matters\u201d with regard to the new electoral system could be further developed at the committee stage in Parliament. <\/p>\n

(Compiled from reports in Sri Lankan Newspapers)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bringing an end to an impasse, the cabinet of ministers, during a special session held last night, approved Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe\u2019s proposal for the election of legislators under the 20th Amendment to the Constitution. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe proposed that the 20th Amendment to the Constitution introduce provisions for 125 members of a 225-member legislature …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Cabinet Approves Prime Minister Wickremesinghe\u2019s Proposals for Elections Reform Through 20th Constitutional Amendment’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41613"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41613"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41614,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41613\/revisions\/41614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}