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The Communist Party Chief Secretary Dew Gunasekera, in a press announcement on behalf of the party's politburo, yesterday analysed the present situation in the country as a crisis of co-habitational governance created by the election system now in force and the 1978 Constitution.

After the 2001 General Election the need for co-habitational governance became indispensable and the President in order to make way for this obligation became flexible and humble enough not to take under her charge the portfolio of the Defence Ministry. This is a fact we must not ignore, stated the press release.

Yet, the last two years were marked with instances of continuing conflicts between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary as a result of the conduct of those who wielded power. The existing political culture was a contributory factor for this situation.

The Government disregarded the need for co-habitation, specially in the case of the ethnic problem that developed into a war condition. The Government failed to understand that the peace process cannot be brought to a logical conclusion by suppressing facts from President or without her cooperation, it said.

The press release stated: "The understanding between the President and the Prime Minister or between the UNP and the PA or between the ruling party and the Opposition were not so much as the understanding between the UNP and the LTTE. The Communist Party is not so naive as to believe that the people's mandate received by the Prime Minister in 2001 supersedes the mandate received by the President in 1999.

"The President is duty bound to discharge her functions assigned to her under the Constitution. She is also responsible to the people who gave her the mandate.The Government's failure to acknowledge this position is the basic cause of this crisis", it stated.

"The President, having considered the situation of conflict between the legislature and the executive and between the legislature and the judiciary, took over the portfolio of the Defence Ministry under her charge, the only alternative available to her under the circumstances. That is an act in conformity with the Constitution, and an act which is just and correct".

It further stated that under the present crisis the country has three alternatives (i) Forging ahead on the principle of co-habitational governance; (ii) A change of Government on the basis of majority in Parliament; (iii) A General Election. Without doing away with the Executive Presidency and the existing election system, a solution to the current crisis is unimaginable, as reflected in the CP Press Release yesterday.

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