Sri Lankan President Calls Early Elections
Sri Lanka’s president has dissolved Parliament, paving the way for elections nearly three years ahead of schedule, a top official said Saturday.
Janadasa Peiris, a senior aide to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, said the vote, the third since 2000, would be held April 2.
Peiris did not give a reason for the decision to dissolve the 225-member legislature and call early elections.
The move came amid the president’s political battle with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, which started Nov. 4 when Kumaratunga seized control of the key Defense, Media and Interior ministries from the prime minister’s Cabinet. The two belong to rival political parties and were elected separately.
Kumaratunga has broad executive powers and heads the security forces, while Wickremesinghe heads the legislature and runs day-to-day political affairs.
Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet will assume caretaker functions with little power.
Early elections, expected since Kumaratunga’s November power grab, became more likely when her Sri Lanka Freedom Party formed an alliance with a Marxist party in January.
The alliance has been pressing her to call elections.
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