Parliament dissolved, polls October 10

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 August 2000, 08:11 GMT]
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga issued a proclamation Friday dissolving parliament with effect from midnight under powers vested in her by Article 70 of the Sri Lankan Constitution. Nominations for the polls will be called from August 28 to September 4 according to the proclamation. The date for the general election has been set for October 10. The new (eleventh) Parliament of Sri Lanka will meet on October 18 after the conclusion of the elections.

The People's Alliance was elected to power at the general election on 16 August 1994. It first met on 25 August. The present President Ms Chandrika was appointed Prime Minister. After she became President in November 1995, her mother, Mrs Srimavo Bandaranaike took over the post of Prime Minister. Ms. Srimavo,84, retired on 9 August this year and Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake was sworn in as new Prime Minister on August 10.

Mr.K.B.Ratnayakae served as the Speaker of the tenth Parliament. Mr.Anil Munasinghe was the Deputy Speaker.

Parliament, which dissolves at midnight Friday, held its last meeting on 16 August.

There are 225 members of parliament. Of these 196 were elected by proportional representation from the electoral districts. Twenty-nine are elected from the national lists of parties. A party has to secure a minimum number of votes calculated on the basis of the total number of valid votes cast at the election divided by 29 to appoint one or more MPs from its the national list.

When the Peoples Alliance came to power in August 1994, it had the majority of one vote in Parliament. The Peoples Alliance had however managed to stay in power for its full term of six years.

The decision to dissolve the Parliament Friday comes amidst speculation that the People's Alliance would wait until the date due for doing so under the constitution.