NAN
Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, on Monday said a snap parliamentary election was the only way the country could solve the ongoing political instability.
This is contained in a statement released from Prime Minister’s office.
Rajapaksa said he invited all those, who respected democracy to give a careful thought on holding a parliamentary election, as this would be the only way to end the present crisis.
“In the gazette notification dated Nov. 9, 2018, issued by the President in accordance with the provisions of our Constitution and the Parliamentary Elections Act, dates had been fixed to call for nominations from Nov. 19 to 26.
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“To hold the poll on the Jan. 5, 2019 and for the new Parliament to meet for the first time on the Jan. 17.
“If things had gone accordingly, stability would soon be restored to the country,’’ he added.
Sri Lanka has been embroiled in a political crisis since Oct. 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former president Rajapaksa to the post.
Rajapaksa’s party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, organised a mass activity in capital Colombo on Monday afternoon with hundreds of people calling for a snap parliamentary poll.