Sri Lankan gov't opposes extended presidential term

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 15, 2004

Sri Lankan gov't opposes extended presidential term

Sri Lankan government opposes the extended term of office for President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was reelected in December 1999, for a second term, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

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Sri Lankan government opposes the extended term of office for President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who was reelected in December 1999, for a second term, a government spokesman said on Wednesday.

"The government has been consistently adhering to the position that her term comes to an end by the end of 2005," government spokesman and Constitutional Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris told reporters.

Kumaratunga, while addressing a state-controlled TV chat show on Tuesday night, said that she was constitutionally empowered to continue her present term as president until 2006 whatever arguments are advanced to the contrary.

The president said it was up to her to decide whether to step down before 2006 or otherwise.

Peiris described Kumaratunga's remarks as an "unacceptable arrogance."

Kumaratunga, who was first elected to office in 1994, won her second term when she called an early presidential elections in 1999 before the expiry of her six-year term in 2000.

She told the television Tuesday night that she had taken oath in a private ceremony in 2000, enabling her to hold office until the year 2006.

Peiris asserted that there was no explanation on the alleged secret swearing-in ceremony for the president.

"It is not something that can be done in private, why was the country not told and why is this being sprung as a surprise at this particular moment," Peiris queried.

Kumaratunga as the country's executive president has been at odds with the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe ever since the latter's United National Party defeated Kumaratunga's People's Alliance in the parliamentary elections in December 2001.

The cohabitation conflict climaxed early November last year with Kumaratunga's action to take over three key ministries of theWickremesinghe administration.

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