Sri Lanka readies for the ‘Rajapaksa dynasty'

Express News Service
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The Sri Lankan cabinet on Monday approved the constitutional changes that President Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted to bring about.

The proposed changes are: Removing the two-term limit for a President; diluting the 17th amendment on appointments to high offices with a view to safeguarding the constitutional powers of the President; and introducing the First Past the Post system in a limited way in elections to the local bodies.

The amendments will be introduced on September 7 and voted upon on September 9. The government now has the support of 147 MPs in a House of 224 and, therefore, slightly short of the required two-thirds majority. However, cabinet spokesman Maithripala Sirisena told newspersons that the government would eventually get 160 votes.

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