New constitution after election

The government will convene a Constituent Assembly after the conclusion of the next general election to formulate a new Constitution based on the German Model. The Nation learns that a 1972-styled Constituent Assembly that drafted the First Republican Constitution that year would be set up after elections, as the present 1978 Constitution does not provide for the setting up of such an assembly.
“The United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) will ask for two thirds majority from the public at the forthcoming general elections. In the event we do get the people’s mandate for ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya – Vision for the Future’ (Idiri Dekma), a Constituent Assembly would be convened to go ahead with the necessary Constitutional reforms,” Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene told The Nation.
“The government after taking into consideration views of all parties, will introduce a modified version of the German Model or the Mixed System. Under it, Members of Parliament would be made answerable to his or her constituency (seat) and majority of MPs would be elected under the first-past-the-post system. The rest would be elected under the Proportional Representation (PR) system, which is effective at present, in order to ensure minority party representation in Parliament.
However, the exact basis has to be finalised in the future,” he added. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had mooted that unlimited powers of the present Executive Presidency was undesirable and as set out in the 2010 manifesto, would be made an office accountable and answerable to the Parliament. Head of State would also be mandated to sit in Parliament.
Unchecked and unrestricted powers of Executive Presidency was useful during a time of war, as President Rajapaksa exercised them to abrogate the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) with the LTTE, and to take urgent decisions concerning military operations.
The removal of power of the President to dissolve Parliament and increase the powers of Advisory Committees to over see ministries, are also mooted in the 2010 manifesto. It also proposes to modify office of the President to that of a ‘custodian’ after due consultation with all parties and people’s representatives. Asked what would become of the efforts of the All Party Representatives Committee (APRC) he said although the proposals would not be used as they are, they would nevertheless be useful material for the next Parliament.
Under ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya – Vision for the Future,’ President Rajapaksa has also mooted the re-introduction of the second chamber – the Senate, to encourage the participation of religious dignitaries and professionals. Urban Development and Sacred Area Development Minister Dinesh Gunwardene, who also headed the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms, told The Nation that the Committee could not reach a consensus about the basis of allocation.
“What we have been proposing was to go in for a mixed system. No decision was reached during the last one and a half years as UNP was scaling down and moving up the basis of allocation. As a result no consensus could be reached. So, the basis would be the 160 electorates of which five are multi-member constituencies. So, 165 would be elected on the first-past-the-post system while rest would be elected through under a list of national level combined with district or provincial level. The argument was to not increase the number of MPs which at present stands at 225,” Gunawardene said.
The 2010 manifesto also proposes that the 13th Amendment and Provincial Council System would be modified after due consultation with all represented parties and to adopt a Jana Sabha (People’s Council) and Gam Sabha (Village Council), which is similar to the Panchayath System in India. President Rajapaksa also pledges to re-establishment of the Northern Provincial Council within a very short span. (News - The Nation)