MESSAGE BOARD NEWSLINKS US EDITION COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
The midnight announcement is a drastic measure to get over a political impasse created by an opposition no-confidence motion that endangered the survival of the Peoples Alliance regime.
The referendum will be held on August 21, a special official communique said.
The presidential notification blamed the 1978 Constitution for distorting the mandate of the people in terms of parliamentary representation.
Even though the Peoples Alliance got two-thirds of the popular votes, it was not reflected in the number of seats the alliance got in Parliament. This was mainly due to the electoral system of proportional representation provided for in the Constitution.
Therefore, it said, the president was asking the people: Are you agreeable to the proposal that the country needs a constitution, which is a national requirement and a national pre-requisite?
Kumaratunga had unsuccessfully presented a new draft Constitution to Parliament on August 2, 2000. The draft statute envisaged a different electoral system besides a solution to the ethnic crisis. However, the opposition parties rejected it.
The president is a strong votary of a constitutional overhaul in the country - both to reform the electoral system and to solve the ethnic conflict. The combined opposition has a strength of 115 legislators in the 225-member Parliament.
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