Colombo: In an unusual move, Sri Lankan
President Maithripala Sirisena has sought the Supreme Court's
opinion if he could be the president for six years, a request
which contradicts the amendment he introduced to reduce the
presidential term to five years.
Sirisena, 66, spearheaded the 19th amendment (19A) to the
Constitution in 2015 to prune the presidential term from six
to five years.
The president's term should end in 2020, but has sought
the Supreme Court's opinion if he could continue until 2021.
The Registrar of the Supreme Court yesterday informed the
members of legal fraternity that the consideration by the apex
Court has been listed for January 11, officials said.
It said the President had requested an opinion which
read, "whether in terms of provisions of the Constitution, I
as the person elected and succeeding to the office of
President and having assumed such office in terms of Article
32 (1) of the Constitution on January 9, 2015, have any
impediment to continue in the office of President for a period
of 6 years from January 9, 2015".
The request stands in direct contrast to Sirisena's
action of backing the civil society's demand to abolish the
presidency when he offered to be the Opposition's common
candidate in 2015.
Instead of abolishing it, Sirisena introduced the 19A
amendment which reduced the presidential term to five years
while taking away the absolute control over the dissolution of
parliament.
Sirisena's announcement has come amidst the ongoing
differences with his coalition partner, the United National
Party (UNP) which is headed by Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe, Sirisena's main backer in the 2015 election
against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sirisena defeated Rajapaksa with a clear reform agenda in
2015.
The President of late has criticised the UNP publicly and
some some party members have also been critical of him.
PTI
