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Speaker has no powers to bind President's powers - Opposition Leader

Making a statement in the House at the beginning of yesterday's proceedings Leader of the Opposition Mahinda Rajapakse, MP yesterday told Parliament that the Speaker has no power or jurisdiction to make any ruling or pronouncement that seeks to bind the plenitude of powers vested in the President of the Republic under the present Constitution unless expressly conferred thereunder.

The basis on which the speaker made the statement on November 19 was misconceived, the Opposition Leader said. He argued that it was incorrect to say, as the Speaker alleged, that sovereignty is divided and exercised by the Executive President, Parliament and the judiciary, since the sovereignty is vested in the people and the above three agencies are created for the exercise of sovereignty.

The power of prorogation of Parliament has been historically vested in the Executive President, he added. Further, under the 1978 Constitution the President elected directly by the people does not exercise any of her powers on the advice of the Prime Minister or any other Minister for that matter, the Leader of the Opposition said.

The Supreme Court has ruled that even powers of the president to dissolve parliament cannot be curtailed without infringing the constitution, he added.

In the opinion of the Leader of the Opposition precedents from other constitutions contained in the ruling by the Speaker are irrelevant because they are not comparable to our present constitution.

The Opposition Leader also referred to the ruling by Speaker Anura Bandaranaike on July 16, 2001 as contained in a letter to the then Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe which said inter alia:

"The power to prorogue Parliament vested in the President by the Constitution is not expressly qualified by any pre-condition for its proper exercise, nor is there indication of the requirements that need to be fulfilled or as to the nature of the reasons which may prompt the exercise of the power."

While stating the Opposition's disagreement with the statement of the Speaker the previous day, the Opposition Leader expressed the view that the prorogation of Parliament by the President on November 2, 2003 was a valid exercise of powers vested in her under the Constitution and does not constitute a violation of Article 3 and 4 of the constitution.

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