Sri Lankan government has ruled out any election taking place during the rest of the year despite being reduced to a parliamentary minority.

Nimal Siripala De Silva, the Minister of Health and the government spokesman, told reporters here Friday "There is no need to hold a general election and the government remains solid."

His colleague Maithripala Sirisena, the minister of Irrigation, said there will not be any election in the country until the 2006 when the local government elections are due.

The government response came as a reference to a long march launched by the main opposition party the United National Party ( UNP) to call for the holding of the next presidential election.

The UNP maintains that the incumbent Chandrika Kumaratunga's term ends in November this year.

However, Dew Gunasekera, the Constitutional Affairs Minister, said Kumaratunga's term had to be calculated 12 years from November 1994 when she was originally elected President. Therefore the election is due only in November 2006.

The ministers accused the UNP of trying to intimidate the country's elections commissioner to hold the presidential election this year.

De Silva said "the elections commissioner cannot act arbitrarily in deciding he must act according to the constitution. "

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga cited a secret oath taking ceremony held in the year 2000 which empowers her to hold the post until 2006.

However, the UNP maintains that the next presidential election must be held by December this year, six years since the last presidential election held in December 1999.

The government was reduced to a minority in mid June when the main coalition partner the JVP left the government over the dispute involving Kumaratunga's decision to enter a joint deal with the Tamil Tigers for tsunami relief co-ordination to Tamil regions.

The UNP, however, is not intending to topple the government as they are more keen on facing a presidential poll in order to have its nominee Ranil Wickremesinghe elected executive president.

Source: Xinhua