Down with the presidency - Ranil

Thursday, 18 July 2013 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

UNP Leader says party will support constitutional amendment to abolish presidential system immediately or push for early polls

By Dharisha Bastians Making a resolute stand on the abolishment of the executive presidency, the Opposition Leader yesterday pledged to support a draft constitutional amendment to repeal the powers of the presidency with immediate effect after years of oscillating on the issue.

“The system has to go,” United National Party Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said, during a panel discussion moderated by his Party’s National List Legislator Eran Wickremaratne on achieving “constitutional consensus” last night. “We will agitate for this constitutional reform, but if they refuse, we will push for an early election - probably in 2014 and campaign on a platform for abolishment of the presidential system,” Wickremesinghe pledged. The Leader of the Opposition told a packed auditorium of the Chartered Accountants Institute in Colombo that the protracted conflict had concentrated power in the hands of the president, especially after the president also began holding the defence portfolio. “During the war, people were willing to allow the President to trample the constitution if it meant he could take on the LTTE. The President was virtually given a free pass to do anything. This massive presidential power has not changed since the end of the war,” he charged. Wickremesinghe said the President wielded power today at the expense of all other arms of the state. Having been involved in the drafting of the 1978 constitution, Wickremesinghe said that he was aware of how the system could be wielded. “I know this system. I know the power it can accrue to an individual. Who would want to give it up,” the UNP Leader said, explaining why it was necessary to ensure the system was abolished as soon as possible before another individual tasted the power of that office. He said the inclusions to any new Sri Lankan constitution must be decided upon by the young people, so that the new legal framework would apply to a mid-21st century world. “We were involved in the drafting of the 1978 constitution when we were in our 20s and 30s. At that time, we sought to include what we thought was best for our time. Fundamental rights, an elected president and an open market economy. It is now up to the next generation to decide how they want to design the political and social framework in which we live,” he said. Last night’s panel also included Lecturer of Law Dr. Deepika Udugama and Attorney at Law Suren Fernando.