Opposition parties sign deal to secure and revive democracy

Saturday, 24 August 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Opposition political parties led by the United National Party signed an Agreement for Consensus called SAMAGI on Thursday, to secure and

revive democracy in the country. According to the main opposition UNP, the present Government has commenced a “dictatorial journey” by introducing the 18th Amendment in 2010 and abolishing the independent commissions which were established through the 17th Amendment to enable social justice and good governance. The opposition parties say that they believe that the Executive Presidency has given enormous powers to the President to act dictatorially and therefore, it should be abolished. The coalition of parties says they will unanimously focus on the need to formulate a new constitution favorable to all communities in place of the existing one which concentrates too much power on one individual. The new agreement, the opposition says, is aimed at creating a common platform, not only for political party members, but for all groups of people in the society who are concerned about the direction the country is heading. The movement also hopes to secure agreements with sections of the Government who are concerned about the excessive powers of the Executive Presidency. The agreement aims to build a broad ‘Force for Unity’ not confined to a community, religion, caste or class, uniting all under an agreement of consensus. The Force for Unity proposes a 10-point plan to fight against the dictatorship and establish democracy.