Sri Lanka's ruling front mulls polls

Sri Lanka's ruling United National Front (UNF) is considering calling for parliamentary elections if the President Chand-rika Kumaratunga-led opposition People's Alliance (PA) continues a confrontational attitude and blocks the government's progress.

A high-powered UNF committee presided over by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will meet today in Colombo where they will decide whether they should call for early elections.

One of the aims of the meeting will be to fix a deadline for the opposition to stop what the government calls confrontational politics, which they said was hampering the peace process and economic development.

At the meeting today, the committee will decide whether they should move a resolution in parliament calling for elections, the only method by which the government can go for a fresh parliamentary polls.

The other option is that Kumaratunga can call for elections after a one-year period is completed from the date of the last election.

At the meeting it will also be discussed whether they should move a vote of confidence on Wick-remesinghe to show that he has full control of the government.

The discussions on the possibility of holding fresh elections has been prompted by continued clashes between the UNF and PA and also with hopes among UNF members that they could increase their majority in parliament by holding a fresh election.

Despite a fresh election, the UNF will not be able to obtain the required two-thirds majority in the 225 seat Parliament which could be used as an easy means to move an impeachment motion against Kumaratunga.

The other method of impeaching the President would be to give notice to the Speaker in a petition signed by not less than half of parliament (113) members and would have to be followed by Supreme court proceedings.