Lankan civil society groups drafting anti-defection law

Civil society organisations in Sri Lanka are drafting an anti-defection law for Parliamentarians in the country to protect the voters and check corruption in such cross overs.

Rohana Hettiarachchi, the leader of the main election monitoring group People's Action for Free and Fair Elections, said the anti-defection law would ensure full sovereignty of the voters, told reporters on Saturday.

"We are in the process of drafting it (anti-defection law)," Hettiarachchi said, adding it the draft would be submitted to the government soon.

Hettiarachchi said most defections in the recent past showed a trend that defections were happening for defectors to join the government and not from members in the government joining the opposition.

"We have heard stories of how large-scale monies had been offered to defectors," Hettiarachchi said.

Sri Lanka in 2015 proposed to add an anti-defection clause to the nineteenth amendment to the Constitution. However, severe protests from the Opposition led to the clause being dropped from 19A.

The 19th Amendment (19A) to the Constitution of Sri Lanka was passed by the country's Parliament in 2015.

The amendment dilutes powers of the Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978.

Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has made it clear that he wants rescinding of 19A.

He claims 19A had curbed presidential powers and made the government execution of policies difficult.

The amendment was a key highlight of the last government of President Maithripala Sirisena.

He pledged to curtail excessive powers of the executive president and empower the parliament while de-politicising key institutions.