Sri Lanka’s highest court has cleared President Mahinda Rajapaksa contesting for an unprecedented third term in office.
Cabinet Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told the Parliament on Tuesday that the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka had “unanimously held that there was no legal impediment” for the President to call for early elections.
The development comes days after President Rajapaksa sought the Supreme Court’s opinion on his eligibility to contest for a record third term. In a letter to the apex court, he asked for a determination on or before November 10 on whether there is any impediment to him being elected for a further term in office.
Even as Sri Lanka’s Opposition parties intensely debate the possibility of Mr. Rajapaksa running a third term and calling for Presidential elections before completion of six years in office in his second term, he is expected to announce snap polls any time after November 18, when he completes four years in office.
The country’s constitution was amended in 2010 – the 18th Amendment was introduced – to centralise vast powers and scrap a two-term limit on Presidency.
