18 October 2023 12:48 pm Views - 1184
There are no moves to scrap the Executive Presidency as it is a difficult task, Minister of Justice Wijedasa Rajapaksha told Parliament today.
“Scrapping the Executive Presidency is a complicated and difficult process. There is no way we can do it through the present Parliament. It is also an exercise in which the people of this country have to be engaged in,” the Minister said.
“However we have proposed introducing a new electoral system for electing members to Parliament. Accordingly, we propose to elect 160 members through the 'first past the post' system and to appoint a certain number of MPs from the National List and the rest through a Proportionate Representative (PR) system. However, some want the number of MPs elected under 'first past the post' system reduced to 150 while some others want it reduced further to 140. The Government is open for discussions on the matter. People want this change. Therefore, a change is a must,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Minister also said the Judicial Service Commission is conducting a probe on Former Mullaitivu District Judge P. Saravanarajah whom he said had falsely claimed that he has received death threats.
“The Judge had not informed anything on death threats to anyone at the Judicial Service Commission,” the Minister said. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)