Range Bandara justifies his call for referendum to extend President’s term

By Yohan Perera

Colombo, June 3 (Daily Mirror)- Justifying his call for a referendum to extend the terms of Parliament and the President, United National Party (UNP) General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara today requested other political parties to come up with their stand on this matter.

“I only talked of a Constitutional provision for a referendum as per the Constitution. I only referred to Article 86 and 87 of the Constitution which provides the President the power to submit to the people by referendum any matter which, in his opinion is of national importance. The referendum has to be conducted by the Commission of Elections while Parliament shall provide for all matters for the same,” Range Bandara said reading out the Constitutional provision.

“I only called upon Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and other political parties to state their stand on the matter. I also wanted the political parties to get together to avoid another economic downturn. However, no one has come out with their official stand yet,” he added.

“However, we are also ready for the Presidential election,” he added.