COLOMBO – The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has said it will reject any constitution that does not have wide national consensus including that of the Tamil people.
The TNA’s position on the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was announced by its leader, R. Sampanthan, during the second reading the amendment bill debate on Wednesday (21), where he declared the Alliance decision to vote against the 20th Amendment.
Sampanthan told Parliament, the Tamil community has consistently given their mandate for a new constitution and that the democratic verdict of the people in the North and East since 1956 must be respected.
“We have always endeavoured to make our decisions based on principles,” Sampanthan said, notifying that the party will reject any constitution that does not have a substantial consensus of all the people including the Tamil people.
Sampanthan also said the people of Sri Lanka have not given anyone a mandate to turn the country from a democracy to a dictatorship, noting, “A victory at an election by whatever majority does not give anyone the right to turn democracy into a dictatorship.”
He said Sri Lanka does not have a constitution that has been universally accepted by the people, and pointed out that the 1978 Constitution was rejected by the people at every election since 1994, which meant for about a quarter-century the country was being governed without a valid constitution.
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