Sri Lanka will ‘cease to exist’ if new constitution is passed - MR

Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa says there is a clear danger of a breakdown in the governmental mechanism of the country, due to the irrational provisions of the 19th Amendment.

Issuing a statement today (9), he claimed that Sri Lanka faces three major dangers as we complete four years since the change of government on 9 January 2015.

The first among them, he said, is the danger of the economy collapsing at any moment. The next danger Sri Lanka faces is that of the entire governmental mechanism breaking down due to the 19th Amendment while the third danger facing the country, he claims, is the proposed new draft constitution which is to be presented to the Constitutional Assembly.

Rajapaksa says that even though the President is now prohibited from calling a general election to seek the people’s mandate, the 19th Amendment itself has placed the responsibility of forming governments with the MPs in Parliament and taking the country forward entirely on the same President.

“The President continues to be the head of government and the head of the Cabinet. The President will also be responsible for everything done by such a government. The President now cannot call elections to test public opinion and take a back seat if the people’s mandate goes against him,” he said.

After the 2018 local government election, the whole country knows that the UNP does not have the people’s mandate and that they have been avoiding holding elections for that very reason, he said.

In such circumstances, it will be impossible for the President to hand over the running of the country to the UNP and take a back seat, the Opposition Leader.

“Because of the irrational provisions of the 19th Amendment, there is a clear danger of a breakdown in the governmental mechanism of the country,” he said.

Meanwhile he further charged said that through the proposed new draft constitution, the government seeks to divide the country into nine semi-independent federal units.

The powers wielded by the central government today, are to be devolved to the provinces. Each province is to have a separate police force, he alleged.

Rajapaksa also claimed that provisions have been introduced to weaken the central Parliament and the legal framework in such a manner as to make it impossible for the central government to respond adequately to an emergency in order to safeguard the peace and integrity of the country.

“This draft constitution has been prepared by the same persons who drafted the completely confused 19th Amendment.”

He said that the same parties that drafted this proposed new constitution introduced a new elections system for the local government bodies and provincial councils in 2017.

Today, the every people who enthusiastically voted for that new elections system say that no election in the future should be held according to that new system, he added.

“If the new constitution drafted by the same people is passed, Sri Lanka as we know it, will cease to exist.”

“We now hear that attempts are being made to buy MPs to get this new constitution passed,” he claimed.

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