COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s 20th Constitutional Amendment bill, which was approved by the cabinet of ministers and published in the official gazette on Thursday, seeks to revert back to the all powerful executive presidency which existed between 1978 and 2015.

The draft 20A abolishes the Constitutional Council (CC) which has non-parliamentarians and replaces it by the Parliamentary Council (PC) which comprises of parliamentarians. It allows dual citizens to sit in parliament, and lifts the previously imposed restriction through 19A on the age limit of a presidential candidate. While according to the 19A, a Sri Lankan citizen who is also a citizen of any other country -dual citizen, was barred from being elected as a Member of Parliament, this will be removed by the 20A.The age at which a person is qualified to be elected to the Office of President, which was 30 years in the 1978 Constitution, and increased to 35 under 19 A will be reversed back to 30 years under 20A.

The 20th Amendment (20A) to be ushered in by the current Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) regime aims at repealing several provisions of the existing 19th Amendment (19A) which watered down much of the powers of the executive president as well as parliament and placed a significant level of responsibility of decision making on all matters in the hands of several Independent Commissions with the Independent Constitutional Council at the helm.

The 19th amendment was introduced by the previous United National Party (UNP) government in April 2015. The UNP was completely voted out of parliament at the last August 5 general election. The decision by the government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa for a constitutional amendment in the form of 20A is in the backdrop of the cabinet approving the drafting of an entirely new constitution. A separate committee established to work on the new constitution has commenced its deliberations.

The introduction of urgent bills to parliament, which was done away with by 19A, is to be ushered back in. The president will thereby seek a ruling on the constitutionality of the said bill after the Cabinet of Ministers refers it to the Supreme Court, and the court required to give a ruling within 24 hours to three days after which the bill can then be tabled in parliament, debated, and passed the same day.

Focusing on what it saw as positive aspects of the proposed changes, the CPA said it welcome the retention of five-year terms for president and parliament, the two-term limit on presidential office, and the recognition of the right to information as a fundamental right.

The Independent Commissions, such as the the Police Commission, Judicial Commission and the Public Service Commission, will continue under 20A. However they will be appointed by the president in consultation with the parliamentary council.

The Constitutional Council (CC) will be replaced by the Parliamentary Council (PC) and will comprise of the prime minister, the speaker, the leader of the opposition; a nominee of the prime minister and a nominee of the leader of the opposition. The three civil society members which had representation in CC have been dropped from the PC’s composition.

Meanwhile, the Colombo-based think tank, the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) said in a statement on Friday that it is “deeply concerned by the changes proposed by the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution Bill gazetted on 2nd September 2020 and its impact on constitutional democracy in Sri Lanka.”

It described the proposed reforms of the 20th Amendment as a return to ‘unfettered executive power institutionalised by the Eighteenth Amendment introduced in 2010.’ The 18th amendment was introduced by the previous Rajapaksa regime.

However, it also maintained that ‘the other changes proposed in the bill will set in motion a process that will seriously undermine the separation of powers, the rule of law, and fundamental freedoms.’

The general argument of the SLPP regime for scrapping the clauses of the 19A is that the division of power was neither clear nor practical, with the directly elected former Executive President Maithripala Sirisena clashing with the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as a result of many gaps, confusion and inconsistencies in the 19th Amendment. The former President had also clashed with the Independent Commissions heightening the dysfunctionality of the previous regime.

The sweeping victory for the SLPP in both the presidential and parliamentary election and especially in the backdrop of the unprecedented defeat of the UNP in general and former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe in particular is seen by government backers as an acknowledgement of the need for a ‘strong government’ and a ‘strong Presidency’ along the lines under which the SLPP carried out its campaign, The purpose of the amendments while the new constitution is made is thought by analysts to be an enabler for the SLPP to function without fetters while a new constitution is being prepared.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020