Eligibility For A Third Term: From The Horse’s Mouth
I was looking through some of my old articles and came across a press cutting with an interview by JR Jayewardene.
An amendment to the 2 term period requires a 2/3 majority in Parliament PLUS a Referendum. The “old fox” himself said so.
This is clearly the intention behind the relevant Constitutional article and who should know better than JR himself since his own brother was probably its principal framer.
In an interview with Sunday Island Editor Rohan Abeywardena on 15 Dec 1991, responding to the question:
“Why did you not contest in 1988?’,
JR replied:
“Under the Constitution of 1978 a President can be elected for two terms only. Under the Law creating the Presidency my first term was deemed to have commenced in 1978.
“Thereafter in 1982 I was elected for the second term. If I had acceded to the request of my Party, and many of the Members of the Opposition, and contested the Presidential election in 1988, it would have meant a third term for me, and would have needed an amendment to the Constitution, by a two-thirds majority, and also the sanction of a Referendum. I thanked my sponsors and declined to accept their offer. Moreover, as a cricketer I was aware that in cricket, there are only two innings given to a side, and there is no third innings.”
I rest my case
