Sri Lanka removes term limits for presidency

(September 10, 2010) Sri Lanka's Parliament voted on Wednesday to eliminate term limits for the president, a move critics say could lead to dictatorship. The amendment also will tighten President Mahinda Rajapaksa's hold on power by giving him total control over the judiciary, police and the civil service. The main opposition group, the United National Party, boycotted the vote and burned an effigy of Rajapaksa at a protest in the capital. But the constitutional amendment passed easily, with 161 votes in the 225-member Parliament. That's 11 votes more than the two-thirds majority required. Seventeen lawmakers voted against it. Six United National Party members and one member from the Tamil National Alliance, the main party representing ethnic minority Tamils, defected and voted with the government. The constitution used to limit the president to two six-year terms, so Rajapaksa's term starting in November would have been his last. Critics say he has exploited his popularity following the crushing of the 25-year Tamil separatist insurgency to consolidate power with the aim of setting up a family dynasty. Two of his brothers are senior ministers, another is defence secretary and his son is a lawmaker. From his prison, General Sarath Fonseka, President Rajapaksa’s challenger in the last presidential elections, said, "This legislation is the last nail in the coffin of democracy.” He vowed to fight against it.