හර්ෂ කුමාර් සුරියආරච්චි ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමා විශාල දේශප්‍රේමී ජනතා චන්දයකින් තේරී පත් වුනි. එතුමාගෙන් ජනතාව අපේක්ෂා කල කාර්යයන් ඉටු කෙරීමට එතුමා සුදානම් බව පෙනේ. නමුත් එතුමාම කිහිප වරක් පවසා ඇති පරිදි ඊනියා 19 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය එතුමාගේ කාර්යයට විශාල බාධාවක් වී තිබේ. ජනාධිපති තුමා දිවුරුම් දෙන අවස්ථාවේදී නිවැරදි ව, රටේ ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍ය වරයා ලෙස කටයුතු […]

Ada Derana

Courtesy Ada Derana The 21st Amendment Draft Bill and the 22nd Amendment Draft Bill have been gazetted by Parliament. The 21st Amendment Draft proposes to change certain provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution while the 22nd Amendment Draft proposes to abolish the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. The two draft Bills have been […]

DAYA MADAWITA Courtesy Island This an Open Letter to the President, PM and all MPs to amend the Constitution to create ethnic and religious harmony in Sri Lanka. First, I wish to congratulate His Excellency Gotabaya Rajapaksa, for his resounding win at the recent Presidential election. I am writing this, as a patriotic Sri Lankan, […]

By Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Island Judging by the post-November 17 political discourse, Sri Lanka seems to be experiencing an ‘outbreak of common sense’. Many worthy proposals, emanating from the grassroots, appear to supplement the new President’s task of repairing the economic, national security and social damage caused by yahapalana incompetence and neglect. The shift […]

Courtesy The Island Milinda Moragoda, Founder of the Pathfinder Foundation and former Cabinet Minister, in a statement called on the new Government to refrain from holding Provincial Council elections prior to the parliamentary elections. He suggested that the Government should, as part of the expected Constitutional overhaul, seek to mobilize the necessary two-thirds majority to […]

By Gamini Abeywardane Courtesy Ceylon Today Abolition of the executive presidency has surfaced in the political debate again.  Since early nineties the matter has been brought up many times in election promises – first by Chandrika Kumaratunga in 1994, then by Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005 and 2010, and lastly by Maithripala Sirisena in 2015. Yet for […]

By W.A.De Silva Courtesy The Daily Mirror Constitutional reforms to whose benefit? Will it provide any consolation to the national economic crisis? Was there a demand from the masses for a new Constitution? You may find answers to these questions once you peruse this article. Article 3 of Chapter 1 of the Constitution states that […]

By C. A. Chandraprema  Courtesy The Island March 14, 2019, 8:56 pm We are living through an era when there is growing unease in the country due to the rise of anti-social gangs in the North. They may still be at an incipient stage, but networks are being built and a lifestyle is evolving. One never […]

By C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island The Supreme Court was called upon to deliver a judgment relating to the provisions of the 19th Amendment for the first time when several political parties including the UNP petitioned the apex court against the dissolution of Parliament and the declaration of a general election, late last year. The instance in […]

පේරාදෙනිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ දර්ශන අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය ආචාර්ය චරිත හේරත් උපුටාගැණීම ලංකාදීප විධායක ජනාධිපතිධුරය පිළිබඳව සංවාදය නැවත වතාවක් මෙරට දේශපාලනයේ ප්‍රධාන මාතෘකාවක් බවට පත්වෙමින් තිබෙන බව දැන් කාටත් පැහැදිලිය. ප්‍රධාන දේශපාලන පක්ෂ දෙක තුනේම නායකයන් පමණක් නොව ඒ ප්‍රධාන පක්ෂවලට සම්බන්ධ වී සිටින කුඩා පක්ෂද මේ දවස්වල පුවත්පත් සාකච්ජා පවත්වමින් කරන්නේ එක්කෝ විධායක ජනාපති ධුරය දිගටම […]

By Ananda Ariyarathne Courtesy Ceylon Today Is Sri Lanka still a poor Nation because we do not have a suitable Constitution? Simply because everyone has a mobile phone, a Hero Honda, a Maruti obtained on some leasing programme, and a credit card from some ‘international bank’, has our Nation become an affluent Nation? Have the housing […]

By C. A. Chandraprema When former minister Sarath Fonseka was denied a ministry by President Sirisena last December, he threatened to go before courts to obtain what he deems to be his rightful place in the UNP government, formed following the restoration of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to that post. He has not yet followed […]

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island For nearly two decades, the view that appointments to high state positions should be made only on the recommendations of an apolitical vetting body styled the Constitutional Council has been propagated by certain interested parties. The need for some kind of a vetting process in making high state appointments […]

By C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island Prior to the promulgation of the 19th Amendment, the President’s power to dissolve Parliament had been stated in Article 70(1) of the Constitution. Under this provision, the President had the power to dissolve Parliament in the following circumstances. (a) If a General Election has been held consequent to a dissolution of […]

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island February 17, 2019, 8:45 pm Under Article 70 (1) in the Constitution before the introduction of the 19th Amendment, Parliament could, at any time, pass a resolution by a simple majority requesting the President to dissolve Parliament. However, after Article 70(1) was amended Parliament cannot under any circumstances be […]

By Gamini Abeywardane Courtesy Ceylon Today The debate over a new Constitution has come to the fore again.  Many critics, especially those who do not like to see any progress in this regard, due to personal agendas, are raising issues saying that there are many other grave issues facing the country which need to be tackled […]

By Laksiri Fernando Courtesy The Island It is not only the ‘aekeeya/orumiththandu’ confusion and the ‘draft provisions’ for a new constitution that are questionable, but also the procedure and the process that were followed in drafting them. Under the present circumstances, there is no possibility of a single major party inaugurating a new constitution even […]

By Sugeeswara Senadhi Courtesy Ceylon Today The independent Constitutional Council (CC), which was hailed as one of the biggest achievements of the Yahapalana Government in 2015, today, faces vehement criticism from the highest authority in the country, none other than President Maithripala Sirisena, who went to great lengths to ensure the smooth sailing of the […]

ආචාර්ය දසරත් ජයසූරිය සභාපති ‘ස්පර්‘ මාධ්‍යය නිවේදනය – ජනවාරි 2019 ශ්‍රී ලoකා ‘ඔරුමිත්ත නාඩුව’ – යෝජිත ව්‍යවස්ථාව හඳුන්වාදෙන මැඩපැවැත්විය නොහැකි ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යය ශ්‍රී ලoකාවේ සාමය, ඒකීය භාවය සහ මානව අයිතීන් රැකීම උදෙසා, දැනට අවුරුදු  විස්සකට අධික කාලයක් ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ  සිට කටයුතු කරනු ලබන, දේශහිතෛශී ශ්‍රී ලාoකිකයින්ගෙන් සැදුම්ලත්  ‘ස්පර්’ නමින් හදුන්වන අප සoවිධානය, ශ්‍රී ලoකාව තුල හා ඉන් පිටත […]

JANAKI CHANDRARATNA Constitutionality of the Constitutional Assembly is a topic much debated in recent times. It is an understatement to say that Sri Lankans are in a state of exhaustion with interpretations of the current constitution, since the dissolution of Parliament on 9 November 2018. An introduction of a new constitution without identifying the discrepancies […]

ශිරාන් රණසිංහ, නිසංසලා අබේගුණසේකර උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙන නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතට අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා එකඟද නැද්ද කියා සිය ස්ථාවරය රටට හෙළි කළ යුතු බව යුතුකම සංවාද කවයේ සභාපති ගෙවිඳු කුමාරතුංග පැවැසීය. ‘ඒකීය’ වචනය යොදා ගනිමින් තවදුරටත් ජනතාව රවටමින් කටයුතු නොකරන ලෙසද ඒ මහතා කීය. ඒ මහතා මේ බව කියා සිටියේ කොළඹ 7 […]

Mohan Samaranayke Courtesy The Island Since Friday 11th January on which date Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe presented in Parliament, the report of the ‘Panel of Experts’ (PoE) working under the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly, as an ordinary citizen with very little knowledge in constitutional matters, I became curious to know who these experts are. […]

ලක්ෂ්මී ජයකොඩි උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම නව ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ෆෙඩරල් ලක්ෂණවලින් සමන්විත වන බව දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ නායක ආර්. සම්පන්දන් මහතා අවධාරණය කර ඇත. තමිල් අරසුකච්චි පක්ෂයේ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභා රැස්වීමක් පෙරේදා (26දා) කොළඹදී පැවැති අතර එහිදී එම පක්ෂයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රිවරුන් හමුවේ ඔහු මේ බව කියා තිබේ. ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුව මඟින් හා විශේෂඥ කණ්ඩායම් මඟින් සකස් […]

by Lakshman I. Keerthisinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today A State or country that is governed constitutionally as one single unit, with one constitutionally created legislature is a Unitary State: Wiktionary. At the present time in Sri Lanka there appears to be an ongoing discussion among the citizenry about Sri Lanka being a Unitary State with some arguing […]

Courtesy Adaderana Sri Lanka’s Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa has said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government lacks political capability and does not have adequate support in Parliament to pass the new Constitution, which he claimed that if introduced will divide the country. He also reiterated his demand for a fresh poll in the island nation. The […]

Mahinda Gunasekera Federal vs Unitary: Broadly speaking, most are fully in favour of retaining a Unitary Structure of governance as opposed to a Federal, Quasi-Federal based on the Indian model, or other multi-level structure where powers need to be devolved to the semi-autonomous units that are to be set-up for various regions within the tiny […]

Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka Inc (SPUR) MEDIA RELEASE – January 2019 The Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (SPUR) joins other nationalist organisations in strongly rejecting the constitutional changes proposed in the report recently tabled at the Constitutional Assembly by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. Under […]

By Cyril Wimalasurendra Courtesy The Island The government must strive to solve the economic problems the people were faced with instead of trying to introduce a new Constitution, Mahanayakes of the Asgiri and Malwatta Chapters told State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene yesterday. The minister visited the Chief Prelate of the Asgiri Chapter, Most Ven Warakagoda […]

 By P.K.Balachandran/Daily Express Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, January 14: Political consensus is likely to elude Sri Lanka’s draft constitution, given three factors currently at play. The first factor is the hostility of President Maithripala Sirisena and the Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapaksa to the draft, though only the latter has come out publicly against it so […]