SL President to give televised address

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 June 2004, 16:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge is to address the people of Sri Lanka on Saturday 8.30 p.m. through state television and electronic media, ruling party sources said Friday evening.

President's address comes at a time when her minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government is in a dilemma to prove its majority.

All opposition parties in the parliament, United National Party (UNP), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) have agreed to work under a common programme to assert their majority in parliament.

About 114 opposition parliamentarians have signed a petition and submitted to the Speaker to safeguard the democracy in parliament.

However, a powerful section of the ruling UPFA says that the joint opposition might submit an impeachment motion on the President if it musters 114 signatures.