19th A Enacted More With Political Interests

The focus of the 20th Amendment is basically to restore some powers back in the hands of the President and to rectify certain grey areas of the 19th Amendment. As far as the transfer of presidential powers to the Premier, the Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalists of the UPFA did not show much objection during the committee stage at that time. Government has worked out the 20th A - that is to give more authority to the President. If enacted, it would reintroduce constitutional provisions for the Govt. to enact urgent Bills

- Kelum Bandara

The stage is set for a huge public awareness debate on the Government’s exercise to bring about constitutional changes – first the enactment of the 20th Amendment and later the introduction of a fully-fledged Constitution. Actually, the debate has already started, and it is bound to gather momentum in the days to come since the 20th Amendment has already been placed before the Cabinet for consideration.

The 20th Amendment is sought to be incorporated into the Constitution as a modification of the 19th Amendment which was enacted by the Yahapalana Government in 2015 as one of its main pledges to the constituents at that time. It has pruned the powers of the President and vested them with the Prime Minister and the Constitutional Council which is a parliamentary body with three civil representatives as well.

The focus of the 20th Amendment is basically to restore some powers back in the hands of the President and to rectify certain grey areas of the 19th Amendment. The 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution was passed by Parliament with 215 voting in favour and only one against it. One MP abstained and seven others were absent on April 28, 2015 when it was put to vote in parliament. It was an exercise undertaken by the 100-day Government formed under the leadership of the United National Party (UNP) shortly after Maithripala Sirisena was elected President at the elections concluded on January 8, 2015.