Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa seeks constitutional reforms weeks after re-election

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is seeking restoration of sweeping executive powers as the newly-elected government has reportedly drafted a bill for constitutional reforms. According to Bloomberg, the amendment would seek more powers for the president, including allowing him to dissolve the parliament one and a half years after it's election than the current four and half years provision.

This comes after Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was running a minority government with his brother Mahinda as its head, won a landslide victory in the August parliamentary election.

Read: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Vows To Abolish 19th Amendment

As per reports, the changes would also allow the Sri Lankan President to appoint members of the Election Commission, the country's Human Rights Commission, and five other bodies. In the new expected changes, the current Constitutional Council will be replaced by the Parliamentary Council consisting of only legislators and not members from the civil society.

The changes would also allow members of the Sri Lankan parliament to hold dual citizenship, a move that experts say is to accommodate his brother youngest Basil Rajapaksa, who is also a citizen of the United States.

Read: Rajapaksa Family Dominates Sri Lanka's New Cabinet

Sri Lanka election

In the recently concluded election, Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party - leading the Sri Lanka People's Front, won 145 seats in the 225-member parliament in the August election. Its main opponent, the SJB obtained 54 seats, while a minority Tamil party won 10 seats and 12 smaller parties won 16 seats amongst them. 

With almost two-thirds of the majority in Sri Lanka's parliament, the recent election paved the path forward for Rajapaksa to suggest constitutional reforms.  

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