The Constitution of Sri Lanka establishes a democratic, socialist republic in Sri Lanka, which is also a unitary state. The government is a mixture of the presidential system and the parliamentary system.
The President of Sri Lanka is the head of state, the commander in chief of the armed forces, as well as head of government, and is popularly elected for a six-year term. In the exercise of duties, the President is responsible to the Parliament of Sri Lanka, which is a unicameral 225-member legislature.
The President appoints and heads a cabinet of ministers composed of elected members of parliament. The President`s deputy is the Prime Minister, who leads the ruling party in parliament and shares many executive responsibilities, mainly in domestic affairs.
Members of parliament are elected by universal (adult) suffrage based on a modified proportional representation system by district to a six-year term. The primary modification is that, the party that receives the largest number of valid votes in each constituency gains a unique "bonus seat."
The President may summon, suspend, or end a legislative session and dissolve Parliament any time after it has served for one year. A parliamentary no-confidence vote requires dissolution of the cabinet and the appointment of a new one by the President.
Meanwhile, the parliament reserves the power to make all laws.
Responsible to Parliament for the exercise of duties under the constitution and laws, the president may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of Parliament with the concurrence of the Supreme Court.
The people of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) had the first opportunity of enjoying universal franchise in 1931 to elect their Members to the State Council. The first Parliamentary General Election was conducted in 1947, a year before independence from the British colonial rule of 130 years. The First Parliament was elected in 1947 under Ceylon (Constitution) Order in Council of 1946. The election was held on multiparty system.
After 25 years, the first Republican Constitution was introduced in 1972 with the President as the Head of the State who was to be nominated by the Prime Minister. Later in 1978 the Second Republican Constitution was introduced, which promulgated the establishment of an Executive Presidency and a Parliamentary legislative.
Courtesy: Wikipedia
