JVP General Secretary,Tilvin Silva, said the Government should put its electoral agenda on the back burner and take steps to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Silva said the Government should not weaken the battle to contain the corona outbreak by giving priority to its election agenda. Top priority should be given to the battle to defeat the spread of coronavirus, supporting all forces willing to contribute towards this effort.
According to Silva, at this juncture, the Government should postpone its electoral agenda and control the spread of the coronavirus by creating the necessary environment to turn the lives of the people back to normalcy, and make use of its full strength to defeat the corona outbreak in the country.
At present, the Government has to fulfill two key responsibilities. One is to defeat the coronavirus and the other is to provide relief measures to uplift the lives of the people who have faced hardships due to the prevailing situation in the country. However, suitable persons should be selected to implement the state mechanism to provide relief to the people. Instead of doing so, steps were taken by the Government to open taverns countrywide on April 20. The following day, the Government decided to close the taverns immediately. We can’t understand on what grounds these decisions were taken, he said.
The JVP General Secretary said the Government acts without considering the threat posed to the lives of the health authorities, security forces and the Grama Niladharies in the state mechanism.
He said according to the Constitution, Parliament should be reconvened within three months from the date of its dissolution. However, Parliament cannot be reconvened before June 2 due to the decision taken by the Election Commission to hold the elections on June 20. Therefore, certain sections say this has paved the way for a constitutional crisis. But there is no such constitutional crisis as the steps to be taken are clearly ststed in the Constitution.
Silva said the President took oaths fully abiding by the law to safeguard the Constitution. The President should act according to the Constitution. In an emergency situation like this, the President has the power to reconvene Parliament and later conduct an election. Therefore, the President should not create a constitutional crisis. If the President’s advisers cannot understand this situation, it is more appropriate to get an interpretation from the Supreme Court.