The UNP intends holding a referendum on its draft national constitution within six months of coming to power.

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, addressing the media, after he had unveiled his party’s draft constitution at the parliamentary complex yesterday, said that they would be launching a country wide debate to obtain feedback from all sections of society.

The United National Party (UNP), while calling for the enactment of a new Constitution, said yesterday that it was committed to a unitary state, which would genuinely devolve power to the provinces without usurping its effectiveness.

Opposition and UNP leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, releasing his party’s manifesto at the parliamentary complex, said that there was an urgent need to adopt a new Constitution since the dignity and sovereign rights of the people had been forcibly taken away by the Rajapaksa regime.

First, the government puts itself in a political quandary over elections to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).  To have them, or not to have them, becomes the teasing question.  The President goes on record repeatedly promising to have the election in September.  The government goes out of its way to make sure that Sri Lanka would host the Commonwealth Summit in November.  All of this makes sense.  A free and fair election could showcase the government’s claim at the Commonwealth summit that postwar reconciliation is on course in the island’s former battlegrounds.  The government could even brag that it has re-enfranchised the Tamil people whom the LTTE had disenfranchised previously (especially in 2005). That is one way of looking at it.

Minister of Fisheries Dr. Rajitha Senaratne says that there is no problem in providing police and land powers to the Northern province.

He made this statement during a function held in Beruwela.

".. they say don’t grant police powers and land powers to the north," he said. "The DIG is appointed by the president while the government appoints the SSPs.''

 Democratic Party leader General Sarath Fonseka yesterday told The Island that Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya had to instil confidence among the Sri Lankans in the country’s electoral process.

The vast majority of Sri Lankans had lost faith in the electoral process due to major malpractices, the former army commander said, urging Deshapriya to take meaningful measures to encourage more people to exercise their franchise. Over the years there had been gradual reluctance on the part of some voters to exercise their franchise due to the belief that it wouldn’t make any difference, the retired General said.

Head of the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ), Ven. Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, called for the abolition of the Executive Presidency during the rule of the present government.Participating in a discussion organized by Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), held at the auditorium of the Organization of Professional Associations (OPA), yesterday, he pointed out that the main constituent party of the present government, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), wanted the Executive Presidency abolished at the time it was introduced.

 The government was not serious about devolving real power to the North, since it had already usurped the rights of the other eight Provincial Councils by siphoning off nearly forty percent of their revenue, the UNP said yesterday.

Western Provincial Councilor Niroshan Paddukka told a news conference in Colombo that even though the Cabinet Spokesman had announced that the Northern Provincial Council Election (NPCE) would be held in September, it was unlikely to take place since ruling party constituents such as the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), National Freedom Front (NFF) and even the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, were openly campaigning against it.

The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) will hand over the draft Bill to amend the 13th Amendment, to the Constitution, to the Secretary General (SG) of Parliament today.

The JHU drafted a Bill to amend the 13th Amendment, claiming it to be a threat to the territorial integrity of the country and the sovereignty of the people.

The draft Bill will be handed over by Chairman of the Party, Ven. Athuraliye Rathana Thera, General Secretary, Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka and Assistant Secretary, Udaya Gammanpila.

The Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) has asked Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian, Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy, to appear for an interrogation on 25 May, sources said.

However, the parliamentarian, citing a health condition, had refused to appear before the TID on the said date.

He has now been asked to appear on a given date in June, sources added.

The UPFA-run Eastern Provincial Council’s balance of power is likely to be affected due to an ongoing dispute between the SLMC and the provincial chief minister.

This is due to CM Najeeb A. Majid’s barring the opening of a library at Kalmunai town.
But, the library was opened by SLMC leader, minister Rauff Hakeem.