Justice, Prison Affairs and Constitutional Reforms Minister Dr. Wijeyedasa Rajapakshe, PC, has said the establishment of a Senate is under consideration in line with overall constitutional reforms.
Addressing a discussion organised by the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) at the Sri Lanka Foundation on Tuesday (26), Dr. Rajapakshe said a Senate consisting of 35 would be appropriate. It would replace the Constitutional Council.
The NMSJ organised the discussion in the wake of growing accusations that the government would exploit proposed electoral reforms to put off presidential polls, scheduled for later this year, and parliamentary election next year.
Reiterating that both national elections would be conducted as per the Constitution, Dr. Rajapakshe said that electoral reforms would have to be introduced before the next round of national elections.
Responding to questions raised by The Island, Dr. Rajapakshe said that he proposed to elect 160 on a first-past-the-post system and the remaining 65 chosen proportionally, either at national or provincial level. Asked to explain, Dr. Rajapakshe said that under the current system 196 were elected and 29 appointed on the National List. However, in terms of the proposed reforms under discussion, the number of elected MPs would be reduced to 160 from 196, Dr. Rajapakse said. The number of National List slots has been increased to 65 from 29 and could be chosen at national or provincial level from nine separate lists, Dr. Rajapakse said.
The Justice Minister said that he proposed the establishment of a Senate as he felt that there should be an appointed body above Parliament. The much criticized Constitutional Council performed some of the tasks which could have been addressed by the Senate, the Justice Minister said.
Declaring that the abolition of the Senate with the enactment of the 1972 Constitution, too, contributed to the ethnic conflict that led to a catastrophic war, Dr. Rajapakse pointed out that the US, Japan, Germany and India had Senates. The minister said that the country couldn’t afford not to introduce constitutional changes though some interested parties seemed hell-bent on sabotaging their efforts (SF)
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