{"id":61561,"date":"2018-11-10T02:00:05","date_gmt":"2018-11-10T06:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61561"},"modified":"2018-11-10T02:00:05","modified_gmt":"2018-11-10T06:00:05","slug":"president-sirisenas-gazette-proclamation-dissolving-parliament-will-be-challenged-in-courts-by-unp-says-mangala-samaraweera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61561","title":{"rendered":"President Sirisena’s Gazette Proclamation Dissolving Parliament Will be Challenged in Courts by UNP Says Mangala Samaraweera."},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan <\/strong><\/p>\n

Avoiding a resolution to Sri Lanka\u2019s political crisis through Parliament, President Maithripala Sirisena late on Friday dissolved the House. The move came just hours after his political front admitted to lacking the majority needed for its controversially installed Prime Minister to be declared legitimate.<\/p>\n

Issuing an extraordinary gazette, Mr. Sirisena dismissed the 225-member assembly with effect from midnight, and called for a snap general election on January 5, 2019.<\/p>\n

Power struggle<\/strong><\/p>\n

The development comes a fortnight into Sri Lanka\u2019s unprecedented power struggle that saw two rival leaders claiming to be the legitimate Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Caught in a bitter tussle with his Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, with whom he joined hands to form the government in 2015, Mr. Sirisena sacked him abruptly on October 26 and appointed former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place.<\/p>\n

The move drew considerable domestic and international criticism for its apparent defiance of the Constitution. Mr. Wickremesinghe refused to accept the decision and sought a vote in the House to test who commanded its confidence. However, days before Parliament \u2014 earlier suspended \u2014 was scheduled to reconvene, Mr. Sirisena announced its dissolution.<\/p>\n

UNP for legal challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n

Following the announcement, Mr. Wickremesinghe\u2019s United National Party (UNP) convened an \u201cemergency meeting\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are certainly challenging this in court,\u201d senior UNP politician Mangala Samarweera, who was Finance Minister in the government that fell, told The Hindu.<\/p>\n

Irrespective of the outcome, the party would also move an impeachment motion against the President, Mr. Samaraweera said, \u201cbecause he is a menace to the country, a menace to our democratic traditions.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The UNP was \u201cready to face election any time\u201d, but felt the need to challenge the dissolution which is \u201ca blatant violation of the Constitution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\nValidity under cloud<\/strong><\/p>\n

While the political logic of the President\u2019s move is evident in the absence of a parliamentary majority for his front, its constitutional validity is questionable. As per the 19th Amendment to Sri Lanka\u2019s Constitution, the President does not have the powers to dissolve Parliament within four-and-a-half years of its convening, unless requested by two-thirds of its members.<\/p>\n

The President\u2019s legal team, on the other hand, has invoked Article 33(2) c, which lists the powers to summon, prorogue and dissolve Parliament, in addition to existing powers. However, critics observe that while the article is a general enumeration of his powers, the specific provision in the 19th Amendment must prevail.<\/p>\n

Asked if Sri Lanka\u2019s Election Commission would seek the Supreme Court\u2019s opinion on the matter, ahead of elections, Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told The Hindu: \u201cNo comments.\u201d However, he added: \u201cThe President has the powers to fix the date for elections in his proclamation.\u201d<\/p>\n

All the same, pressed on the Commission\u2019s position on holding polls when the announcement follows a controversial move, Mr. Deshapriya said: \u201cThe Commission will discuss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Friday, Sri Lanka\u2019s purported new government said it had \u201c104 or 105\u201d MPs in the 225-member House, in a public admission of lacking majority in the House. Addressing a press conference at the Prime Minister\u2019s office \u2014 which Mr. Rajapaksa took over after his disputed appointment \u2014 spokesman of the Sirisena-Rajapaksa front Keheliya Rambukwella said, \u201cWe have about 105 now\u201d, contradicting Mr. Sirisena\u2019s claim last week of \u201chaving the majority\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr. Rajapaksa, who sought early general election even while in opposition, said in a tweet: \u201cAs leaders, it is our responsibility and obligation to give the people the opportunity to voice their opinions on the future of #SriLanka. <\/p>\n

A general election will truly establish the will of the people and make way for a stable country.\u201d By Friday evening, President Sirisena had sworn in virtually the entire \u201cnew cabinet\u201d, that included senior aides of Mr. Rajapaksa and himself in key Ministerial positions.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

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

By Meera Srinivasan Avoiding a resolution to Sri Lanka\u2019s political crisis through Parliament, President Maithripala Sirisena late on Friday dissolved the House. The move came just hours after his political front admitted to lacking the majority needed for its controversially installed Prime Minister to be declared legitimate. Issuing an extraordinary gazette, Mr. Sirisena dismissed the …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘President Sirisena’s Gazette Proclamation Dissolving Parliament Will be Challenged in Courts by UNP Says Mangala Samaraweera.’ »<\/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\/61561"}],"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=61561"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61562,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61561\/revisions\/61562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}