In a bid to break the apparent impasse on Sri Lanka’s constitutional reform process, President Mathripala Sirisena has begun talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Leader of Opposition R. Sampanthan.
Chairing the first tripartite discussion on January 30, the President reiterated his commitment to a genuine constitutional process to the leaders, underscoring the need to accelerate its pace, the Colombo-based Daily FT reported. After it rose to power in the January 2015 presidential elections, the Sri Lankan government embarked on a Constitution-making exercise, aimed at offering a just political solution to the island’s minority Tamils following a bloody civil war.
It appointed a 21-member committee to steer the process. However, with members from different political parties differing on key aspects, the steering committee could not meet its initial deadline of presenting an interim report to the Constitutional Assembly comprising 225 legislators. Six sub-committee reports addressing different aspects of the draft Constitution also await discussion in Parliament.
Amid growing domestic political pressure, particularly from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who sits in opposition in Parliament, Mr. Sirisena reportedly stepped in to expedite the Constitution-making process. He has asked the country’s top constitutional lawyers to soon draft a fresh document that includes the interim proposals.
‘Genuine process’
Observing that Mr. Sirisena and Mr. Wickremesinghe appeared committed to a “genuine constitutional process”, Mr. Sampanthan told The Hindu that the new document should draw upon earlier “home-made proposals” such as the draft Constitution of 2000, from President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s time and the All Party Representative Committee Report of 2009. Even as fears about a country-wide referendum grow, Mr. Sampanthan said a referendum was crucial to ensuring a substantial consensus on the new Constitution.
