19th Amendment to the Constitution Prevents Dissolving Parliament Before Four & Half Years

In response to the call made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to immediately dissolve Parliament and go for a snap election, Constitutional Lawyer and UNP MP Dr. Jayampathy Wickramarathne said, Parliament cannot be dissolved before four and half years unless a two thirds majority passes a resolution as per the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.  JVP MP Vijitha Herath too  said not even President Maithripala Sirisena could dissolve Parliament before February 2020 without a two thirds majority support.

“What was concluded was an election for Local Government Authorities. Parliament was elected for a term of 5 years.“There is no tradition or precedence to say that Parliament should be dissolved when the incumbent Government suffers a loss at Local Government elections. It is not a valid claim,” Wickramaratne pointed out.

He however stressed that the two main parties in the Government must take note of the election results, learn from the mistakes they have made and corrective steps in future. It can be done and should be done,he added.

 Former President Rajapaksa’s group has got only 44.65 percent of the national vote in the local government election. He cannot claim a landslide victory. His vote percentage at the last Presidential Election was 47.58 percent. The combined vote of the parties that are opposed to him is nearly 55 percent,” he said.

Hence , the argument that Mahinda  has the majority support is not true,” Wickremaratne  concluded.