ISAS Insights

The campaign for curbing executive powers and strengthening democratic governance was a decisive factor in Maithripala Sirisena’s victory in Sri Lanka’s presidential election in January 2015. In keeping with his ‘100-day programme’, President Sirisena succeeded in getting the 19th Amendment to the Constitution duly enacted. The Amendment does not ensure a total abolition of the executive presidency, yet it dismantled, or at the minimum, diluted, the excessive powers of the executive presidency. It can, therefore, be regarded as a milestone along Sri Lanka’s path towards greater representative democracy.