Referendum for 20th Amendment - PHU

The Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) yesterday said the government should go for a referendum to seek people's consent if it were to bring in the 20th Amendment to the Constitution to hold the election for all provincial councils (PCs) in one day.

PHU General Secretary MP Udaya Gammanpila said the sole purpose of the 20th amendment was to postpone the PC elections till 2019.

"One clause of the proposed amendment says the election for all PCs should be held in one day and that the day should be decided by Parliament. Perhaps, after the amendment, an election for a PC may never be held," he told a news conference.

He said according to current Constitution, the Election Commission has the authority to call for the election once a PC's term was dissolved.

"If Parliament never decided on a date, the election for PCs will never be held. Not even the Supreme Court has the power to direct Parliament to pass a resolution in this regard," he said.

He said the proposed Amendment was against the third clause of the current Constitution and therefore, people's consent at a referendum was needed.

"However, this amendment doesn’t mention that it will be subjected to a referendum. Therefore, we will go to the Supreme Court against this once it was presented to Parliament," he said. (Lahiru Pothmulla)

Video by Susantha