COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa could contest the next year’s presidential election for a third term in office as a result of the constitutional changes, Prime Minister D M Jayaratne said.
In an event held in Kandy, the prime minister confirmed that a presidential election will be held in January next year and the issue being raised is if President Rajapaksa can contest or not.
The prime minister said that there is enough legal backing to allow the president to contest for a third term despite arguments to the contrary raised by some lawyers and monks.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently had also said that he and his government would contest for a third term in office at the elections and would win comfortably.
Rajapaksa had also noted that his government had done a lot for the country including development work which past governments only just talked about.