President Maithripala Sirisena started the debate on the 19th Amendment at Parliament this morning and called upon all MPs to support the historic decision of approving the 19th Amendment.

Sirisena arrived at the parliament earlier this morning to take part in the parliamentary debate on the 19th Amendment. He started the debate on the Bill after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented it to parliament.

The president pointed out that the constitution has been amended on most occasions to strengthen the powers of the executive presidency. Apart from the 13th and 17th Amendments, all other constitutional amendments had the motive of further strengthening the powers of executive presidency, he explained.

Sirisena stressed on his personal interest in getting the 19th Amendment, which proposes to reduce powers of executive presidency, approved. He commended all major parties for having arrived at a consensus over the 19th Amendment. While pointing out that there were some remaining differences in opinion, Sirisena said that there was enough time to debate over these differences and arrive at an agreement.