COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said on Tuesday that he will float a proposal to reduce the existing six-year presidential term to five.

This move is part of a constitutional makeover which the new government hopes to bring about in its first 100 days.

President Sirisena, speaking at a public meeting in his native farming district of Polonnaruwa, said that he had suggested a four-year term, but the constitutional expert who is working on the changes said that having a Presidential election every four years would be expensive and a decision to opt for a five year term was made. President Sirisena has already declared that he will not seek a second term, in sharp contrast to his predecessor, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had sought a third term and amended the constitution to make it possible.

Justifying a shorter term in office, Sirisena stated that five years was sufficient for radical reforms to be instituted in the country and recalled that the first post-Apartheid South African President, Nelson Mandela, had brought about radical reforms in his five year term in office.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2015

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