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Rajapaksa seeks counsel on second term

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has sought the opinion of the Supreme Court on when his second innings in office commences.

The question has arisen since Mr. Rajapaksa advanced the presidential election by two years. The Third Amendment to the Constitution empowers the President to hold elections at the end of four years of the six-year term.

Interpretation of the Amendment was challenged in the Supreme Court in 2005. The court ruled while disposing of a case on the date of commencement of office of the then President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, that her second stint commenced from the day she was declared elected.

The contention of the petition was that since her first term commenced in 1994, the second term must end in November 2006.

The court ruled that her second term commenced in December 1999 and not in November 2000, paving the way for Mr. Rajapaksa’s election in 2005. He was pitted against the main opposition United National Party (UNP) candidate, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Legal experts differ in their opinion on the Third Amendment and the 2005 Supreme Court verdict. One section is of the view that the second term would have to commence within a reasonable period after the election.

Another section believes that since Mr. Rajapaksa was elected for a six-year term in November 2005, he is entitled to complete his first term and than take fresh oath on the basis of the latest endorsement from the people.

“The President would be strictly guided by the opinion of the Supreme Court. He has decided to refer the matter to the highest court in the country as he does not want to go against the letter and spirit of the Constitution,” said a senior aide of Mr. Rajapaksa.

Meanwhile, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders has charged the Mahinda Rajapaksa government with intimidating and harassing journalists who supported the defeated opposition candidate in the presidential election, Sarath Fonseka.

The police on Saturday sealed the premises of ultra-nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party’s newspaper Lanka, a day after it took its Editor into custody over an article about a senior government official.

On Friday, Karin Wenger of Swiss Public Radio received a letter from the Sri Lankan Immigration Controller saying that she must leave the island before Monday and that her application for a media accreditation card had been denied. No reason has been assigned for this.

Reporters Without Borders also urged the government to strengthen the search for political reporter and cartoonist Prageeth Eknaligoda, who has been missing since January 24.

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