Sri Lanka President gains more power as Parliament approves constitutional changes

Sri Lanka's Parliament has approved a constitutional amendment to reverse  previous government's reforms aimed at curbing authoritarianism. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will now have more powers, due to constitutional changes, which will allow him to strengn his hold on Sri Lanka. new constitutional change will allow Rajapaksa to hold, appoint and dismiss ministers while appointing him as authority of independent commissions like election, public service, police, human rights, corruption investigations commissions and or such bodies. Sri Lanka's President will now have power to dissolve Parliament anytime after two years and six months after being elected. 

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20th Amendment gives power to Rajapaksa

constitutional changes were passed on Thursday with a 91 vote majority after 156 lawmakers of 225 members of Parliament voted in favour of 20th Amendment while 65 voted against it. se constitutional changes were passed after several changes were me under direction of Supreme Court as it observed that some clauses in original proposal were against sovereignty of people and required a general vote by electorate in order to become law. Supreme Court ensured that clauses, enabling citizens to challenge actions of a President in court, financial audit of a President's office and making him answerable to Parliament, remained same to maintain sovereignty. In original proposal, President was given power to dissolve Parliament after a year of being elected which was changed to two years and six months as opposed to previous rule which prohibited President from dissolving Parliament until six months before end of its term of five years. 

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Rajapaksa's Government

In August elections, Rajapaksa and his party, Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP), won a two-third Parliamentary majority votes following which he appointed his bror and former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister as his or bror and three nephews hold Parliamentary seats.

Rajapaksa's control over parliamentary allowed him to make constitutional changes. Claiming that presidential powers limited him and hindered his work, President Rajapaksa said that new change will be a priority for his government and allow him to rule properly. Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa also introduced a clause that lifted ban on people with dual citizens allowing m to hold political office. Last year, Rajapaksa renounced his US citizenship to run for President. 

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(With inputs from AP)