UPDATED: 2355 GMT
President Maithripala Sirisena has dissolved Sri Lanka’s parliament, paving the way for parliamentary elections.
"The president signed a gazette notification dissolving parliament with effect from midnight today," government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.
The government announced that the election will be held on 17 August.
Nominations will be called from 6-15 July and the new parliament is due to sit by September 1.
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Ajith Perera said on Friday morning that the move had been imminent and was prompted by stalling on proposed electoral reforms.
See full text of the gazette below.
“There has been a stalemate in getting the proposed 20th amendment to the constitution tabled in the House, because the opposition has been reluctant to approve it. As a government that came into office, for the short term, to effect some critical changes and then seek a new mandate, it is the right thing to do,” Mr Perera told reporters in Colombo.
The government, led by President Sirisena of the SLFP and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of the UNP functioned in an uneasy alliance, since Mr Sirisena won the presidential elections which deposed of Mahinda Rajapaksa on January 8.
The president pledged to dissolve parliament within his first 100 days in power, which ended over 2 months ago.
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