The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) on Tuesday said the government should hold a referendum before the 20th Amendment to the constitution allowing provincial council elections to be held on one day was implemented.
"One clause of the proposed amendment says the election for all provincial councils should be held in one day and that the day should be decided by parliament. Perhaps, after the amendment, an election for a provincial councils may never be held," he was quoted by the Daily Mirror as saying at a news conference.
"According to the current Constitution, the Election Commission has the authority to call for the election once a provincial council's term was dissolved," he added.
"If parliament never decided on a date, the election for provincial councils will never be held. Not even the Supreme Court has the power to direct Parliament to pass a resolution in this regard."
"The proposed Amendment was against the third clause of the current Constitution and therefore, people's consent at a referendum was needed."
"However, this amendment doesn’t mention that it will be subjected to a referendum. Therefore, we will go to the Supreme Court against this once it was presented to parliament."
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