Sri Lanka Brief Update /04 September 2020 The government of Sri Lanka gazetted its proposed 20th amendment to the constitution on 2nd September 2020. It nullifies the major democratic gains achieved including checks and balances (i.e. independent commissions) to the executive presidency through the 19th amendment to the constitution. The 19th amendment established a Constitutional […]
Scarcely having sufficient time to properly settle into his Chair as Sri Lanka’s Parliament opened for business this week, the Speaker faced down two attempts to trespass on the ‘legislative power of the People,’ throwing up intriguing questions in regard to the country’s parliamentary process, or what is left of this. Freedoms of Speech in […]
The ideas on a progressive and pluralist populism raised by Dr Dayan Jayatilleka, have been critiqued by Mark Salter. This is an exchange of ideas that anyone with an interest not only in Sri Lankan politics, but also in the politics of deeply divided places in general, ought to pay attention to. Salter’s article published on 12 August 2020 […]
Himal Kotelawala. ECONOMYNEXT – Political scientist Prof Jayadeva Uyangoda likens Sri Lanka’s powerful ruling party to a house with a very wide roof and no walls to speak of. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), he says, is like a house with only old-style short walls, atop which anyone can sit and enjoy the breeze. […]
12 August 2020 ( PDF document is attached at the end) 1. Elections for Sri Lanka’s 9th Parliament were held on 5 August 2020 and the first sitting day of the 9th parliament is 20th August 2020. From 22 electoral districts, 196 members were elected and 29 members are being appointed from the National list. […]
Image Courtesy fo IANS. When globalisation was the dominant concept for looking at the world, pandemics were discussed as a global security issue. The objective was to see how pandemics have an impact on global security, and how to prepare for them. Now that one is happening, it is interesting to look at the response. […]
BACKGROUND Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and heading towards the General Elections that is scheduled to be held on the 2nd August. At this moment, three factors dominate Sri Lanka’s social and political landscape. The first is the militarization of government and governance. The second is […]
(Image courtesy of www.slideshare.net) Constitutions of democratic Republics should not be tailor made for individuals. Yet, Sri Lanka’s constitutional practice has been stubbornly reflective of this pattern, inclusive of the 19th Amendment and the proposed 20th Amendment alike. Hypocritical homage to constitutional ideals Veneration of the 19th Amendment by its proponents must give way to an understanding that […]
With all the debates, controversies and rigmarole surrounding the issue of abolishing 19A with 20A, and the demand from certain quarters for a new constitution, there is perhaps one historic outcome from the whole episode, and that is, the virtual establishment of hereditary rule by the Rajapaksa dynasty, at least in the short and medium […]
The Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution Bill (20A) has been published. If I were to describe it in one sentence—20A seeks to take the country backwards to the 2010-2015 period. The only features introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment (19A) that would survive if 20A is passed in its present form would be the five-year terms […]
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution has been criticised and demonised on the basis that it created two centres of power that prevented the smooth functioning of Parliament. As discussed in this column last week this is not substantiated by any evidence. The fact that there were conflicting opinions between the President and the Prime […]
As public concern over Sri Lanka’s draft 20th Amendment to the Constitution increases exponentially since this amendment was gazetted on 2nd September 2020, so do the sheer absurdity of the justifications thereto. Cunning and deplorably simplistic explanations are put forward by some in Government ranks. It is bad enough that the Justice Minister asks as to what […]
