To change Constitution:

Government aiming for two-thirds

Nadira Gunatilleke

*One week for Opposition to co-operate

*General Election on schedule

The Government will give a time period around one week for the Opposition to offer a two thirds majority in Parliament to change the present Constitution. If they fail to do so, the Government will dissolve Parliament at the right time and hold the General Election on schedule to obtain the two thirds majority, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena said.

Addressing a press briefing held at the Information and Media Ministry yesterday, Minister Yapa Abeywardena said that if the Opposition does not support the Government by offering a two thirds majority in Parliament to change the present Constitution, the Government will seek a mandate from the people.

According to the results of the Presidential Election 2010 the Government is very confident of obtaining two thirds majority at the next Parliamentary Election.

According to Minister Yapa Abeywardena the Government is sure about obtaining the two thirds majority in order to change the administration system of the country and to bring a system that is answerable to the people.

As all surveys predicted President Mahinda Rajapaksa scored a percentage between 50 and 60 percent along with the largest majority scored by a Sri Lankan President ever. The President has one more year to go (before completing his first term) and, from November 2010 he has another 6 years to rule the country.

If the UNP united with the JVP to contest from the swan symbol in next Parliament Election, it will face the same problem faced by the the SLFP in 2005 Parliamentary Election.

Therefore the UNP has to decide its future action before anything else. The SLFP did not have a large vote base in the North and East from the beginning and only since the recent past it has been establishing such a vote base.

The TNA is the most strong political party in the North and East which can influence people very easily. Minister Douglas Devananda was working in the North and the Government secured over 44,000 votes there, said the Minister.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in the process of winning the people from minor ethnicities and Tissamaharama, the `Adishtanaye Purawaraya' (The town of Determination) of the JVP crashed down during the Presidential Election when the President scored more votes in 2010 than in 2005. UNP lost its traditional vote bases such as Mahiyanganaya, Senkadagala and districts such as Kandy, Colombo, Matale, Badulla and Puttalam. " I must thank voters in my electorate which scored the second highest percentage of votes in Sri Lanka on 26th", the Minister added.