Sri Lanka's president has revealed that she privately underwent a second swearing-in ceremony a year after she last took office, and claims this entitles her to stay in the post for an additional year, until 2006, further complicating the island's political crisis.
President Chandrika Kumaratunga's stunning revelation Tuesday came amid a bitter power struggle with her political rival, the separately elected Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who made no immediate comment.
The president and prime minister have been deadlocked since Nov. 4 when Kumaratunga fired three of Wickremesinghe's Cabinet ministers after accusing him of jeopardizing the country's security by giving too many concessions to Tamil Tiger rebels.
The country's peace process has been on hold since then.
The president and prime minister head opposing political parties, but Kumaratunga controls the military and has the authority to sack the government. Her actions cannot be challenged in court.
Kumaratunga was first sworn in for a six-year term in 1994. Although the next presidential election was not due until 2000, she called for an early poll in 1999, in which she was re-elected.
The question now is whether her second six-year term started in 1999 -- due to the early election -- or in 2000, as would normally have been the case.
"It is up to me to take a decision whether I am to continue in the office of presidency till 2006 or not," Kumaratunga told state-owned Independent Television Network on Tuesday.
Kumaratunga publicly took an oath of office in December 1999, which would suggest her term ends in 2005. But she now says she took the oath at that time -- just days after escaping a Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bombing -- only because she wanted to quash rumors that she was physically unfit to hold the office of presidency.
"I had to do it to calm down the people who had already taken to the streets to protest the attack on me," Kumaratunga said in the television interview.
She said she held another private ceremony in 2000 with Chief Justice Sarath Silva and the president's confidant, Lakshman Kadirgamar. Nobody else attended, but she argued there was no need to make it public.
Rohan Edirisinha, a top constitutional expert, said it was unclear whether her term should end in 2005 or 2006.
"There are plausible and legally justified interpretations that can support both arguments," he said.
However, Gajan Ponnambalam, a Tamil National Alliance lawmaker, said he did not believe the constitution allowed the president's move and that it would further stall the peace process.
"This latest revelation is going to make things far worse," Ponnambalam said.
In early trade, activity on the Colombo Stock Exchange was thin as most investors waited to gauge reaction and track developments.
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