Peace for the World

Peace for the World
First democratic leader of Justice the Godfather of the Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle: Honourable Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam

Saturday, March 2, 2019

JVP to discuss placing 20th Amendment Bill on Order Paper



RANMINI GUNASEKARA-MAR 01 2019

The JVP will hold discussions with Party Leaders in the first week of March to finalize a date and time for the Parliamentary debate on the 20th Amendment Bill,  JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said yesterday (28).

“We expect to meet with Leaders of all Parties in the first week of March to discuss entering the Amendment Bill to the Order Paper. We will urge them to pass this with a two thirds majority, because we want this Amendment to be put to a referendum so that the public could decide for themselves whether they want to keep the Executive Presidency or not,” he added.

He further added that the JVP will hold discussions with Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as official discussions with the TNA and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress in this regard.
Dissanayake also said  the JVP will organize a series of discussions to enlighten the public on the proposed Amendment.

Meanwhile, responding to critics of the Amendment, Dissanayake said the proposal put forward in the Amendment Bill was by no means a ploy to postpone Elections.

“This is not a perfect proposal, so we’re open to suggestions. We haven’t touched the electoral system in this proposal. But we have included a clause where if the Amendment is passed, the Parliament would have to be dissolved soon after. So instead of postponing, we’ve proposed that Elections be hastened,” he added.