Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 02, 2004
Sri Lankan govt says president's tenure to end in 2005
The Sri Lankan government said on Thursday, Jan. 1, that President Chandrika Kumaratunga's term of office will come to an end in December 2005 as the Sri Lankan people voted in her favor on the basis of a six-year term in the presidential elections in December 1999.
The Sri Lankan government said on Thursday that President Chandrika Kumaratunga's term of office will come to an end in December 2005 as the Sri Lankan people voted in her favor on the basis of a six-year term in the presidential elections in December 1999.
"As far as the presidential elections is concerned, I want to make this position very clear on the part of the government. Our position is that the terms of office of her excellency the president comes to an end at the end of 2005," G.L. Peiris, Consitutional Affairs and government spokesman told a news conference.
He questioned the reason and motive of President Kumaratunga who allegedly took a secret second swearing-in ceremony one year after she was elected as the president for a second term in December 1999.
He termed the president's second swearing-in as "a unique event" which was against democracy.
It was reported that Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva confirmed that he had sworn-in the president twice after the December 1999 presidential elections.
Kumaratunga was first elected as the president in 1994 and she succeeded in the presidential elections in December 1999, one yearbefore her terms of office expired, during which she was injured by a Tamil rebel woman suicide bombers while campaigning.
There was no reaction from the president in this regard so far.