Autocracy fears as Sri Lanka president seeks more power

BBC South Asia
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Sri Lankan MPs are to vote on proposals to let President Mahinda Rajapaksa seek an unlimited number of terms, in a move critics say could lead to dictatorship.

As well as abolishing the current two-term limit, the constitutional amendments would hugely increase the president's powers.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court cleared a draft bill, ruling MPs could vote the changes in by a two-thirds majority.

The government is expected easily to secure the margin required.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Jayaratne presented the amendment to parliament and said there was nothing undemocratic in the plans.

'Bribes and threats'

The BBC's Charles Haviland in the capital Colombo says some opposition supporters accuse the government of using bribes and threats to secure MPs' votes, which the administration denies.

The already weak opposition United National Party is seeing a steady flow of MPs in its coalition declaring they will vote with the government, our correspondent notes.

Civil society activists have called Wednesday a "black day" and are asking Sri Lankans to wear that colour.

They also vowed to hold another demonstration against the proposed reforms like the one which attracted several thousand people on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, pro-government supporters gathered around the parliament in central Colombo on Wednesday holding posters with slogans such as "Long live the president!" and "We need a strong president".

Mr Rajapaksa is popular among the country's Sinhalese majority for presiding over the defeat in May last year of the Tamil Tiger rebels, after a 25-year separatist insurgency.

Mr Rajapaksa, who was resoundingly re-elected for the second time in January, says the measures will strengthen democracy in Sri Lanka.

Lifting the two-term limit would allow Mr Rajapaksa to stand again in 2016.

The amendment would also boost his powers, letting him appoint all the top judges and commissioners for elections, human rights and other affairs, unfettered by any legal veto.

Critics accuse him of trying to set up a family dynasty - his son is an MP, and three of the president's brothers are in top positions.

© BBC News