(RTTNews) - Ranil Wickremesinghe, the leader of Sri Lanka's 18-party United National Front (UNF) Thursday proposed switching to a parliamentary system of governance similar to the Indian model, reports say.

A booklet outlining the shift with a Prime Minister as the executive head and President as constitutional head--with the abolition or substantial dilution of powers of the executive presidency as a key component--was presented by Wickremesinghe to monks at a temple in the capital Colombo.

Earlier, he said the UNF would consider nominating General (retired) Sarath Fonseka--who led the Sri Lankan Army to a resounding victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)--as a consensus presidential candidate only if the former Army chief endorsed the alliance's 10-point common minimum program.
The UNF leader said a decision on the presidential candidate would be taken only after an election was announced and he was confident that General (retired) Fonseka had a clear understanding of the UNF policies.

In case parliamentary polls precedes the presidential election, Wickremesinghe would be the prime ministerial candidate. Other conditions include important portfolios in the Cabinet for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Janatha Vimukhthi Peramuna (JVP), ensuring speedy resettlement of internally displaced persons in the north, besides establishing all the independent commissions for good governance.

Confirming the opposition alliance's proposal to the General, Mangala Samaraweera, a senior UNF leader and former Foreign Minister in the Rajapaksa government, said the prime objective would be to "abolish the executive presidency within a stipulated period of time...an individual candidate who has no party behind him will be the best placed to carry out this agenda."

by RTT Staff Writer

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