Parliament will be dissolved by end of May after the House passes the 20th Constitutional Amendment Bill, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mangala Samaraweera, told media on Thursday.

The electoral reforms, which envisage the replacement of the present Proportional Representation (PR) system by a mixed system, will also include safeguards to ensure fair representation for small political parties and parties of the minority communities, Samaraweera said.

He added that the government was hoping to arrive at a consensus on the reforms by next week. Then, the 20th Amendment will be passed before the end of the month, the minister pointed out.

Samaraweera further said that the present parliament would be dissolved per the Presidential election manifesto of Maithripala Sirisena. He expressed his belief that the new parliament would pass a “Third Republican Constitution” to introduce a Westminster style parliamentary system.

The Foreign Minister also said that President Sirisena and the United National Party (UNP) are committed to forming a "National Government" after the parliamentary elections. The Prime Minister will be from the single largest party and there will be a Deputy PM from the second largest party, he explained.

Samaraweera added that it will bring about a political revolution in the country, describing it as a “Rainbow Revolution”.

(With inputs from The New Indian Express)