JVP: President violates Constitution by refusing to appoint Ranil PM

There are provisions in the Constitution to act against the President if he continues to commit constitutional violations and the progressive forces must consider making use of them, says the JVP.

JVP Propaganda Secretary MP Vijitha Herath told the media at the party headquarters in Pelawatte yesterday that President Maithripala Sirisena had deliberately violated the Constitution by dissolving parliament.

“The Constitution has laid down the limits of actions of the President and the President is expected to act within that framework. However, it seems that the President is going ahead and he has to be stopped.”

“As per our calculations, the President has violated the Constitution at least seven or eight times. His recent statement that he would not give the prime minister post to Ranil Wickremesinghe even if all 225 MPs sign a request demanding so too is an example of violating the Constitution. The Constitution does not say that the prime minister post should be given to a person of the President’s liking.

“The President in recent times has made various statements which contradicted one another. He told the SLFP convention on Dec 4 that he would solve the crisis in seven days. Now he is asking us to wait for a court decision,” MP Herath said.

JVP Kalutara District MP Dr Nalinda Jayatissa said: “Now the 19th Amendment to the Constitution has drawn criticism from both the President and the Rajapaksa group. We think that the 19th Amendment is one of the most progressive steps towards ensuring democracy. It is thanks to that amendment we can now go before the courts against the President’s arbitrary decision to dissolve parliament.

(Source: The Island – By Saman Indrajith)