The Parliament will today debate on increasing the number of Cabinet Ministries in the new government when it convenes at 9.30am.

The government is likely to request approval for the increase of the number of Cabinet portfolios to 48 and the number of State and Deputy Ministerial portfolios to 45.

According to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the number of Cabinet Ministers of a government shall not exceed 30 and the number of State and Deputy Ministers shall not exceed 40 in aggregate.

However, according to the statute 46(4) of the Constitution introduced by the 19th Amendment, the Parliament shall determine the number of ministries in a national government.

The JVP recently argued that there was no national government in existence as there was an opposition in Parliament. In a national government there could not be an opposition, the JVP argued. The JVP requested a debate on the number of ministries on these grounds.