Asanga Welikala

Editors’ Note: This text is a cross-post from Groundviews and was published on 11 November 2018. The original text can be viewed here.

There have been intense public debates over the meaning and interpretation of the Constitution, and especially the far-reaching changes introduced by the Nineteenth Amendment in 2015, since the dramatic and ongoing attempt at an unconstitutional transfer power that began on the evening of Friday 26th October.

Dinithi De Alwis

On the night of October 27th Sri Lanka became plagued by a constitutional crisis, when it was announced that President Maithripala Sirisena had removed Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister and sworn in former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new PM.

Since then, many exceptional scholars and lawyers have highlighted the fundamental unconstitutionality of President Sirisena’s actions. Ordinary citizens have taken to the streets to demand that their democracy, votes, and human rights be respected.

Jayampathy Wickramaratne

Editors’ Note: This text is a summary of media briefings made by Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne concerning the constitutional crisis sparked in Sri Lanka by the removal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday 26 October. For further detail it may be useful to read the other posts collected under the Blog Symposium ‘Understanding the Unfolding Constitutional Crisis in Sri Lanka’, with the caveat that there is no formal connection between Mr Wickramaratne’s statements and the other texts.

Dinesha Samararatne

Editors’ Note: This text is a cross-post from Groundviews and was published on 3 November 2018. The original text can be viewed here.

Asanga Welikala titled the preliminary note that he published on October 27 ‘Paradise Lost’. I agree with Welikala’s analysis and his subsequent publicly stated views as well. However, I do not think that events since October 26 is a case of ‘Paradise Lost’. It is not a case of Sri Lanka losing its credibility as a democracy.

Asanga Welikala

Editors’ Note: This text is a cross-post from Groundviews and was published on 27 October 2018. The original text can be viewed here.

There were three dramatic announcements on the evening of Friday 26th October 2018: (a) the announcement of the withdrawal of the UPFA from the government; (b) the swearing-in of Mahinda Rajapaksa before President Maithripala Sirisena as the Prime Minister; and (c) removal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from office.

Erika Arban & Tom Gerald Daly

We have created a Blog Symposium section to help our readers better understand the unfolding constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka, by gathering together posts, cross-posts, and other information sent to us for circulation.

This is in line with our mission, set out in the new Mission Statement issued as the Blog was re-launched at the IACL World Congress in June 2015, to help constitutionalists around the world better understand constitutional law developments.