The election of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has plunged the UNP-led government into chaos. The UNF parliamentary group is divided; one faction is calling for an early general election and the other the resignation of the Cabinet for a caretaker government to be formed. These two factions backing Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sajith Premadasa seem to be settling scores. Both of them, however, are agreed that they should respect the people’s verdict at Saturday’s presidential election.

The formation of a new administration following the election of President Maithripala Sirisena, in January 2015, prompted us to ask what general elections were there for if governments were to be changed on the basis of the results of presidential polls. We ask that question again.

In January 2015, the UPFA government had a two-thirds majority in Parliament, but upon President Sirisena’s election, it was made to ‘disappear’, and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had about 40 MPs, appointed the PM. Last year, the UPFA failed to secure a working majority in Parliament after forming a government with the help of President Sirisena, who sacked the UNF administration. The UNF fought back, and the hurriedly formed government collapsed. One year on, those whose power grab went pear-shaped for want of a majority are in a position to form a government because their candidate has won the presidential election!

An unwritten law has apparently come into being to the effect that the President, upon being elected, should be able to have a government formed by the party he represents or get Parliament dissolved. It is obvious that the new President cannot work with the incumbent government thanks to our rotten political culture where cooperation is conspicuous by its absence.

The UNP and the SLPP never see eye to eye on virtually anything. Two dogs at the same bone seldom agree, as the saying goes.

So, the UNP-led government has decided to either give up power or go for a general election. Parliamentary polls will have to be held next year, anyway. What if the UNP succeeded in winning it and forming a government? (It may be recalled that the UPFA, which lost the 2015 presidential election, would have won the parliamentary polls that followed if President Sirisena had not queered the pitch for it.) We would witness a situation similar to that between 2001 and 2004 with the President and the ruling party clashing. What would befall the country in such an eventuality?

When the 19A was introduced, we were told that the powers of the President had been curtailed drastically and the legislature strengthened. But the election of the new President has upended Parliament, so to speak. If the yahapalana government is of the view that the election of a new President should necessarily lead to a change of government or a snap general election, can it explain why it didn’t have a provision to that effect incorporated into the 19A?

At the time of enacting that amendment the government was fully aware that the presidential election would precede the next general election; it should have been able to anticipate the kind of situation the country finds itself in, today.

The present situation would not have arisen if the President had been constitutionally empowered to dissolve Parliament upon being elected.

Now, the government is all at sea, and so is the country with some ministers resigning and others refusing to follow suit. The SLPP is also apparently at a loss. Confusion worse confounded! A constitutional remedy is called for. Let the current Parliament address this issue and sort it out once and for all.