The draft of a new Constitution for the country will be submitted to the Constitutional Assembly on October 25, a senior government official told the Sunday Observer last evening.
At the last meeting of the Constitutional Steering Committee on Friday, September 21 the Sinhala translation of the draft was tabled, the official said, adding that the Steering Committee has already received the Tamil translation which will be tabled at its next scheduled meeting on October 11.
The members are expected to finalise work on the new draft constitution proposal at the next steering committee meeting.
“The draft will be presented to the parliament which will convene as the Constitutional Assembly for consideration on October 25,” the official added.
All 225 Members of Parliament will sit as the Constitutional Assembly and will participate in the debate on the draft Constitution. The draft Constitution must be passed with a two thirds majority before it gets to the next stage of a referendum.
A decision on whether to call for a referendum on the new draft Constitution, irrespective of the articles changed, will also be made at the final steering committee meeting, the Government official said.
The first phase of the constitutional reforms process began in January 2016 with the appointment of the Public Representations Committee for Constitutional Reforms (PRC) by the Cabinet of Ministers to seek the views of the people.
The passage of the Parliamentary Resolution for establishing the Constitutional Assembly on March 9, 2016 marked the beginning of the next phase. The first sitting of the Constitutional Assembly was held on April 5, 2016.