System of governance: UNP has given the public three options– Ranil

The UNP’s proposed new constitution was unique, since it gave the people three options of political governance to choose from, Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said yesterday.He told the media that while his party was committed to the abolition of the executive presidency, the powers of which would be divided among the Head of State, Prime Minister and the Speaker’s Council, it had proposed three systems of government.


Their draft constitution, Wickremesinghe said was different in that it gave the masses a choice, unlike what the others had offered.

The first option was to elect a Prime Minister who would govern with the Cabinet, which would be responsible to Parliament. The other system proposed, he said, was for executive power to be exercised on an apolitical basis, subject to checks and balances.

The third option was to adopt a system similar to the Westminster model, Wickremesinghe said, adding that whichever method the people chose, the UNP had proposed that the preferential voting system which had become the bane of Sri Lankan politics, be abolished.

With a view to ensuring that the ruling party did not obtain unfair advantages and to ensure free and fair elections, it had been proposed that parliamentary and provincial council elections be held on the same day. He said that in the event the Head of State was also elected, all three polls would be held together.

The UNP leader said that to preserve the people’s will, his party had called for members of elected bodies, including Parliament, to be deprived of their seats, in the event they lost their party membership.

The UNP, as a party which believed in participatory democracy, he said, would seek the views of a cross section of society on the policy document that was unveiled on Wednesday.

There was an urgent need to enact a new constitution which would enable the creation of a just and equitable society, where all citizens could live in peace and harmony while enjoying their fundamental rights, irrespective of creed, religion, language or political opinion, Wickremesinghe observed.