The National Peace Council issuing a statement welcomes the decision that most of the political parties in Parliament have taken, in principle, to support the passage of the 19th Amendment.  However, in practice, there still appear to be disagreements about what should go into the amendment.  Since the presidential election of 1995 the winning candidate at all successive presidential elections has promised to abolish the executive presidency.  But once they won, the winners deemed it opportune to keep the institution going.  President Maithripala Sirisena is the exception.  What has been most remarkable about the President has been his willingness, even at the cost of his own personal power, to change the notion of the president as being an all-powerful institution that is accountable to nobody, to one that shares power and is accountable.  The president’s self-sacrifice and statesmanship is a unique contribution to governance throughout the world and it is the duty of the rest of the Sri Lankan polity to support him.

National Peace Council says it is hopeful that the government and opposition will show the necessary determination to overcome their political differences to work together in the national interest and pass the 19th Amendment. Such cooperation would set a good example that could allow for the resolution of other complex problems, such as the long unresolved ethnic conflict.  The present political situation, in which the President and Prime Minister are from the two biggest political parties which have been traditional rivals, but are working together along with a multi-party government, is a unique arrangement that needs to be carried forward to the future for the sake of the country.