COLOMBO – Premalal Jayasekara, the convicted murderer who was elected to Parliament from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) in the Ratnapura district is “unsuitable to either sit in Parliament or vote in the House,” the Attorney General has ruled.
Jayasekara received over 130,000 preferential votes and came second in the district at the elections.
The ruling was issued after the Commissioner General of Prisons asked the Ministry of Justice to obtain an opinion from Attorney General Dappula de Livera subsequent to a request from the Speaker of Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene, to bring Jayasekara to Parliament to be sworn in.
A statement issued by the AG’s spokeswoman, Nishara Jayaratne, said the Prisons had said there was no law guiding them on the matter in the Prison Laws.
The statement said under the law, even though Jayasekara has appealed his sentence only the carrying out of the death sentence is stayed, and he remains a convict.
According to section 91(1) of the Constitution, any person disqualified under section 89 (d) cannot contest elections or even vote as his civil rights are lost when under a death sentence.
The Speaker in a statement to Parliament under pressure from the government benches last week, said he had communicated to the Commissioner-General of Prisons that Jayasekara should be brought to Parliament.
Jayasekara, a leading SLPP politician, was given the death sentence by the Ratnapura High Court just days before the elections for the murder of United National Party (UNP) supporter Shantha Dodangoda during the 2015 Presidential Campaign.
Two other men were injured when Jayasekara and others opened fire.
Jayasekara, also known as ‘Choka Malli’, was the former Deputy Minister for Power and Energy and prior to that Deputy Minister of Mahaweli Development.
A former Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman, he has been in Parliament since 2001 and is 47-years old.
Civil Society groups including the eminent Friday Forum had castigated the SLPP for nominating Jayasekara.
“The fact that a person accused of a serious crime is on bail does not make him eligible for nomination,” the Forum wrote in a media statement released earlier this week.
Meanwhile, media reports said Monday (31) Jayasekera, who is currently at the Welikada prison, had been admitted to Ward Three of the Prison Hospital. Several other politicians including former MP Duminda Silva and former chairman of Tangalle PC, Sampath Vidanapathirana are also reported to be in Ward Three
-economynext.com/ENCL