Sri Lanka's president has dissolved parliament, paving the way for elections nearly three years ahead of schedule, a top presidential official said.
Janadasa Peiris, a senior aide to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, said Saturday the vote would be held April 2 and the new parliament would meet April 23.
Peiris did not give a reason for the president's decision to dissolve the 225-member legislature and call early elections, but said she would address the nation soon.
The next parliamentary elections were due in 2007.
The move came amid the president's bitter political battle with Prime Minister Ranil Wickreme-singhe, which started Nov. 4 when Kumaratunga seized control of the key defense, media and interior ministries from the prime minister's Cabinet.
Kumaratunga used her wide executive powers to create two new Cabinet appointments some five hours before the dissolution -- a step seen as potentially worsening the rift between the feuding leaders. They belong to rival political parties and were elected separately.
Peiris said that Lakshman Kadirgamar, a former foreign minister, was appointed as minister of information and telecommunications, while D.M. Jayarathne was appointed as minister of posts and communication.
Kumaratunga has broad executive powers and heads the security forces, while Wickremesinghe heads the legislature and runs day-to-day political affairs.
Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet now will assume caretaker functions with no power to make key decisions.
However, Kumaratunga is likely to sack some other ministers in coming days and restrict the caretaker government, an official said on condition of anonymity.
There are about 30 ministers in Wickremesinghe's Cabinet, in addition to about 20 more non-cabinet ministers.
Following the dissolution, Wickremesinghe immediately canceled a planned trip to Thailand.
"I will not go to Thailand as caretaker prime minister," Wickre-mesinghe said after Kumaratunga's move was announced.
Early elections had been expected since Kumaratunga's November power grab, and became more likely when her Sri Lanka Freedom Party formed an alliance -- the United People's Freedom Alliance -- with a powerful Marxist political party last month.
The new alliance has put pressure on Kumaratunga to call elections, the third since 2000, aimed at overthrowing Wickremesinghe's government.
The alliance claims the government has jeopardized the island's security by making too many concessions to Tamil Tiger rebels.
The dissolution could prompt more violence. The guerrillas have warned that an uncertain political situation may lead to a resumption of fighting.
The prime minister and Tamil rebels signed a Norwegian-brokered truce in February 2002, bringing a halt to 19 years of fighting that had killed nearly 65,000 people.
The truce led to peace talks between the two sides but negotiations are currently on hold because of the power struggle.
Kumaratunga and Wickreme-singhe disagree as to how the conflict should be resolved.
The Tamil Tigers launched their violent campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in 1983, claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority.
RSS