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Kumaratunga reconvenes Parliament for a day

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has reconvened the island nation's dissolved Parliament for a day on September 14 to approve extension of the national emergency ahead of the general elections, official sources said Thursday.

All members of the dissolved House, including the speaker and other officials, have been summoned for the special session.

Kumaratunga had dissolved Parliament on August 18 after failing to muster two-third majority for her new draft Constitution bill.

The Sri Lankan Parliament has been routinely extending the emergency, which was first imposed on May 18, 1983, to enable the country to combat a separatist movement by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The government proclamation comes when officials have virtually completed all preparations for the polls, including the filing of over 5,400 nominations for elections to the 225-member Parliament.

PTI

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