There was chaos in Parliament as many opposition United National Party (UNP) MPs denounced government haste in introducing the Bill in Parliament, while some others tore or burned copies of the Bill. The UNP and the PA held 18 meetings over four months and in June it was indicated that an agreement had been reached. But on 25 July, the UNP announced in Parliament that it would not support the government to adopt a new constitution.
The UNP insisted that there should be consensus among all parties, including the LTTE, before the Bill for the new constitution is tabled in Parliament. The opposition party seems particularly concerned about the interim provisions which allow Ms Chandrika to continue as President for another six years enjoying her current wide powers, as well as those of the Prime Minister, under the proposed Westminster model of government. The UNP wants the executive presidency model to end as soon as the new constitution is adopted.
A two-thirds majority in Parliament (150 of the 225 members) is needed for the adoption of a new constitution. In addition, approval in a national referendum is required for the amendment of entrenched provisions in the current Constitution such as Article 2 which states that "The Republic of Sri Lanka is a Unitary State".
The government has only 111 MPs. Minority parties, the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) led by Douglas Devananda, Hill Country’s Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and Rehabilitation minister MHM Ashraff’s Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), which have 24 MPs are expected to support the government. But a serious internal problem in the CWC has split the party and the government can count on the support of only three MPs including its leader Arumugam Thondaman.
Last year, five UNP MPs led by Sarath Amunugama pledged their support to the PA. In July, UNP’s former Finance minister Ronnie de Mel joined government ranks. But more cross overs anticipated by the government have not happened, despite the offer, according to reports, of $60,000 to each MP joining the PA. It is also reported that ten MPs, who were suspected might take up the offer, were dispatched by the UNP to Singapore on holiday. Some PA MPs were confined to a hotel in Colombo to prevent them jumping to the UNP. Despite the desperate measures, observers believe, the government would not be able to obtain the required two-thirds majority before the current Parliament lapses on 24 August.
The government also faces opposition from other quarters. Influential Buddhist highpriests, the Mahanayake Theras have expressed their opposition to the new constitution. As a Buddhist monk launched a fast unto death protest in Colombo, The Mahanayakes of Asgiriya and Malwatte sects wrote to MPs on 30 July urging them not to vote for the constitution Bill. There were also threats that no Buddhist monk will be allowed to perform the funeral rites of MPs who vote for the Bill.
The new political party Sihala Urumaya (Sinhalese Rights), led by UNP dissident Tilak Karunaratne, along with other hardline groups, National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) and Weeravidhana, has launched a campaign against constitutional reform. These parties believe that devolution of power to the north-east region would be a stepping stone to secession. They demand the retention of the unitary state, supremacy of the Sinhalese majority and the maintenance of Sri Lanka as a Buddhist state. They also vehemently oppose Norwegian role in the peace process and are suspected to be involved in the recent bomb attacks on Norway’s embassy in Colombo and the office of Norwegian NGO, Redd Barna.
The Tamil political parties have already stated that the proposals fall short of Tamil aspirations and insist that the basis for any solution to the Sri Lankan conflict should be the 1985 Thimpu principles, which demand the recognition of the Tamil right to self determination, the north-east Tamil homeland and that Sri Lankan Tamils constitute a nation.
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) decided on 23 July that there will be no compromise on three issues: 1) North-east must remain as one unit for the purpose of devolution; 2) Sri Lanka cannot remain a unitary state; 3) Control of all land within a region must be with the elected regional council. The government is disappointed over the rejection of the proposals by the TULF which seemed amenable to accepting the 1997 draft constitution with certain changes.
According to P Sarawanamuttu of Colombo-based NGO, the Centre for Policy Alternatives, the constitution Bill, although an advance on the current Constitution, does not contain many of the important provisions relating to devolution included in the 1997 draft. Writing in Colombo newspaper Weekend Express, Izeth Hussain says Tamils, whether extremist or moderate, want a unit in which they can be fully autonomous, and above all, a unit in which they can feel secure.