Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said in a policy statement in parliament on Thursday his party’s newly elected government would bring in a new constitution that would reflect the “One country-one law” concept.

Political analysts saw the statement as an indication that the government intended to do away with the amendment to the constitution passed by the United National Party (UNP) government in April 2015 that watered down presidential powers.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa told parliament that the nation had given his Sri Lanka Podujana Perramuna (SLPP) party a mandate through the Aug 5 election to scrap the 19th Amendment to the constitution and work on a new statute.

The SLPP, headed by Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president’s elder brother, won an unprecedented two-thirds majority at the polls. The opposition UNP, as well as its leader and former premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, was voted out of parliament without obtaining a single seat.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), headed by former president Maithripala Sirisena, whose previous alliance with Ranil Wickremesinghe from Jan 2015 to November last year failed, backed the SLPP in the general election.

In his address to the new parliament, President Rajapaksa declared that he would protect the unitary nature of the state as well as its Buddhist identity, but at the same time it would allow citizens to follow the religion of their choice.

“The election held on Aug 5 marked a turning point in the electoral history of Sri Lanka. We asked the people to give us a two-thirds majority in order to form a stable government.

“First of all, I would like to thank and extend my gratitude to all patriotic Sri Lankans for giving my party and its partners a historic and resounding majority for the first time in this country’s history,” the President said in his address.

“During the presidential election in November, over 6.9 million people gave me a decisive mandate, placing a very high confidence in me. So far through my actions, I have proved that I will uphold the promise that I will not violate the trust they placed in me.

“The period between the presidential election and the parliamentary election has been very challenging for us. What we inherited was an economy that had collapsed. Since we did not have a majority in parliament, we were compelled to function with a minority government.

“While ensuring priority for Buddhism, it is now clear to the nation that freedom of any citizen to practise the religion of his or her choice is better secured,” the President said.

Turning to law and order, President Rajapaksa recalled when the SLPP came to powerr, the nation’s confidence was at its lowest due to the Easter Sunday attacks last year.

“But we set out to restructure the security apparatus and eventually succeeded in restoring law and order.

We have created an environment where any citizen can live freely without fear,” he said.

Mr Rajapaksa said his government had committed itself to transforming the country’s political culture.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2020