Resolution passed to convert Sri Lankan Parliament into Constitutional Assembly

Was introduced by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in January, has seen many changes.

The Sri Lankan Parliament on Wednesday evening adopted unanimously a resolution to convert itself into a Constitutional Assembly.

Introduced by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in January, the resolution, since then, has undergone a number of changes on the basis of amendments proposed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Joint Opposition and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.

However, the amendments did not affect the essence of the original resolution, asserted Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Member of Parliament and who heads a committee at the Prime Minister’s Office to provide technical support to the Constitution-making process.

Though the preamble of the original resolution, which talked of providing a Constitutional resolution of the Tamil question, has been removed, Dr. Wickramaratne said “everything would be on the table [for discussion]”. The abolition of executive presidency and the introduction of electoral reforms are among the subjects which were likely to be covered during the process.