Sri Lanka's main opposition to initiate dialogue with other opposition parties on proposed constitutional amendments

Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) is to hold talks with other opposition political parties represented in parliament on the government's proposed constitutional amendments and the abolishing of the Executive Presidency.



The UNP's initiative is to be led by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a press briefing in Colombo today (13) that the discussions with opposition political parties will be aimed at building a common consensus on the constitutional amendments.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the UNP leaders yesterday (12) agreed in principle to the need to abolish the Executive Presidency and create an Executive Prime Minister post that will be responsible to parliament.
A UNP parliamentary group headed by Wickremasinghe met President Rajapaksa and the ruling party group yesterday to conduct a special discussion centered on the constitutional amendments.
Attanayake said that the UNP was ready to support the constitutional amendments if they were based on abolishing the Executive Presidency, implementing the 17th amendment and are beneficial to the country.