COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has decided to order early parliamentary elections in the hope that fresh elections will yield a legislature which will enable him to fulfill his election promises, informed sources said. This is after he found the current parliament to be a hard nut to crack.

Elections will be ordered whether or not Sirisena’s pet project, a constitutional amendment to reduce the powers of the Executive Presidency and depoliticize government institutions, is passed by parliament, the sources said. Sirisena’s governmental partner, the United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe, is also of the same view.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2015

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