An opposition Member of Parliament has accused the government of attempting to seek a Supreme Court opinion on constitutional language discrepancies to extend the terms of the Executive President and Parliament.
MP Dayasiri Jayasekera made this allegation following a gazette notification issued by Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe intended to rectify differences between the English and Sinhala versions of the constitution.
He explained that while the English text requires a referendum to extend the terms of the President and Parliament beyond six years, the Sinhala text specifies a referendum for either increasing or decreasing those terms.
Jayasekera highlighted arguments from a lawyer claiming that the Nineteenth Amendment of 2015 is invalid because no referendum was held when terms were reduced.
He saidthat this legal argument is being used to propose a one year extension for both the President and Parliament subject to a Supreme Court ruling.
The opposition lawmaker noted that the Election Commission Chairman has already formally brought this matter to the attention of the President.
He cautioned the public to remain vigilant against potential attempts to bypass scheduled elections through legal technicalities.
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