Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

The 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the 225-member Sri Lankan Parliament with 215 voting in favor, one against, one abstained and seven were absent, on 28 April 2015. The amendment envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978. It is the most revolutionary reform ever applied to the Constitution of Sri Lanka since JR Jayawardhane became the first Executive President of Sri Lanka in 1978.

The amendment was a result of promise made by President Maithripala Sirisena leading up to the 2015 Presidential Election. The main prospect of the amendment was to repealing the 18th Amendment which gave the President extreme powers and to reinforc democracy in the country. It establishes a Constitutional Council (Sri Lanka) which will exercise some executive powers previously held by the President. The 19th amendment restores many components of the 17th amendment letting the Constitutional Council to set up the proposed Independent Commissions;

In early May 2013 the Mahinda Rajapaksa Government had started drafting a constitutional amendment to reduce the terms of office of the President and the Chief Justice to five years each, instead of Six years for the President and unlimited term, to age 65, for the Chief Justice. According to the proposed amendment, there would be no limit, however, on how often a President could be re-elected. That drafted amendment had addressed National issues of power devolution and proposed to repeal land and Police powers vested with the Provincial Councils.
And by May 2013 then opposition political groups, diplomats and civil organizations like the People's Liberation Front or JVP, Jathika Hela Urumaya, Athuraliye Rathana Thero of Pivithuru Hetak National Movement, and Maduluwawe Sobitha Thero had proposed to change the Constitution back to a Westminster style Parliamentary system for the country to address various issues, especially the issues arisen by the 18th Amendment. The UNP had appointed a committee chaired by the Member of Parliament and former Bar Association President Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe to draft the constitution. The party also proposed as a novel system the Executive powers of the President to be exercised on political basis and to be subject to checks and balances. The proposals guaranteed the freedom of expression and the right to information. The UNP also proposed that the system of preference votes be abolished and the tenure of the Parliament and the Provincial Council fixed at five years. The Key-elements of the proposed Constitution were;

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