President chairs party leaders meeting on 20A

Requests suggestions before Wednesday

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday chaired a high level meeting of party leaders to discuss efforts to establish a new electoral system through the proposed 20th Amendment.

The president’s office said that the Cabinet paper on the proposed electoral reforms was discussed at the meeting which was also attended by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

President Sirisena told party leaders that any changes to the proposals already on the table could be produced before 12 noon on Wednesday 13 May at the Presidential Secretariat.

He said that once the proposals were handed over, another round of talks would be held in an attempt to reach an agreement on the electoral reforms.

On Sunday the President discussed the matter with other political party leaders who were not Parliamentarians.