Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa looks set to dissolve parliament and declare a snap a legislative election, according to reports appearing in the Colombo press on Sunday.
Rajapaksa has the constitutional power to dissolve the parliament from midnight on Sunday when the minimum term of four-and-a-half years has been reached, confirmed Sri Lanka’s Election Chief Mahinda Deshapriya.
The Sunday Observer quoted “Presidential Secretariat sources” as stating a gazette to dissolve parliament “will be issued announcing the dissolution of the present Parliament at the end of the completion of four-and-a-half years in terms of the provisions of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution”.
Deshapriya told reporters if the parliament is dissolved tomorrow, nominations for the general elections must be taken from March 12-19. Nominations must be given 52 days after and 66 days before the date on which the parliament is dissolved.
Official sources told AFP that a general election was most likely in the final week of April if the 225-member parliament is dissolved by Monday as widely expected.
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