By The Pulseline News Desk
Constitutional reform remains Sri Lanka’s greatest unfinished democratic project, President’s Counsel Saliya Pieris said, warning that repeated failures to build consensus and curb the concentration of political power have left the country vulnerable to democratic backsliding.
Delivering the keynote address at the launch of Constitutional Conversations by constitutional lawyer Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne in Colombo on Thursday (16), Pieris described the book as both a historical record and a cautionary account of Sri Lanka’s constitutional journey over the past three decades.
He said Dr. Wickramaratne writes not as an academic observer but as someone who has participated directly in successive attempts at constitutional reform.
“Dr. Wickramaratne, who has had a ringside view of the trajectory of Sri Lanka’s Constitution for over three decades, writes not as someone who has merely studied constitutional events from a distance, but as one who has lived through them – experiencing at first hand the successes, hopes, fears, disappointments and the unfulfilled promises of the constitution-making process.”
Missed opportunities
Pieris observed that reading the book inevitably leads to reflection on the many missed opportunities for meaningful constitutional reform since 1994, when Dr. Wickramaratne first became actively involved in the reform process.
He argued that successive governments had failed to replace the 1978 Constitution because of political expediency, the absence of sustained political will and an inability to forge national consensus.
According to Pieris, Sri Lanka’s constitutional history demonstrates that political leaders have too often acted in pursuit of narrow partisan interests rather than as statesmen committed to the country’s long-term democratic future.
He noted that despite numerous attempts at constitutional reform over the last three decades, the country continues to grapple with many of the same structural issues, including executive power, parliamentary accountability, devolution and the protection of fundamental rights.
Pieris said the book raises an important question about how much longer Sri Lankans must wait for a constitution founded on democratic values such as human dignity, equality, constitutional supremacy, the rule of law and limits on the concentration of state power.
Among the central arguments advanced by Dr. Wickramaratne, he said, is that any future constitution must embrace participatory democracy, social justice and a dynamic interpretation of constitutional provisions capable of evolving with changing social realities.
Safeguarding democracy
A recurring theme throughout the publication, Pieris noted, is the need to safeguard democracy not only from unelected actors but also from governments that obtain overwhelming electoral mandates.
He cautioned that democratic decline rarely begins through dramatic events such as military coups but instead occurs gradually through the steady erosion of constitutional safeguards and institutional independence.
“Democracy needs to be defended sometimes from the very leaders who are elected at an election,” he said, adding that electoral victories alone do not guarantee respect for constitutional limits.
Drawing on Sri Lanka’s own constitutional history, Pieris argued that some of the country’s most significant democratic setbacks occurred under governments commanding overwhelming parliamentary majorities.
He cited the 1972 Constitution, the creation of the Executive Presidency under the 1978 Constitution, and the 18th and 20th Amendments as examples of periods when concentrated political power weakened institutional checks and balances.
By contrast, he observed that reforms widely regarded as strengthening democratic governance – including the 17th, 19th and 21st Amendments – emerged from Parliaments where governments lacked supermajorities and were compelled to negotiate political consensus.
Pieris stressed that constitutionalism requires political power to remain subject to constitutional limits regardless of electoral outcomes.
He contrasted the doctrine of parliamentary supremacy with constitutional supremacy, arguing that democracy is better protected when constitutions place meaningful limits on the authority of temporary political majorities and empower courts to enforce those limits.
Abolishing Executive Presidency
Referring to one of the book’s central themes, Pieris said the concentration of executive power has fundamentally weakened Parliament, diminished accountability and undermined the sovereignty of the people.
He endorsed Dr. Wickramaratne’s long-standing position that genuine democratic reform requires the abolition of the Executive Presidency and its replacement with a system founded on collective responsibility and collegial decision-making.
Pieris also reflected on international developments, pointing to concerns surrounding the expansion of executive authority in other democracies, including the United States, as evidence that constitutional safeguards remain essential even in long-established democratic systems.
Quoting political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s How Democracies Die, he observed that modern democracies seldom collapse through sudden coups but instead erode gradually as institutions become increasingly subservient to executive authority.
He warned that seemingly isolated decisions – weakening independent institutions, expanding emergency powers or limiting oversight – can collectively produce democratic backsliding.
The 19th Amendment, he said, demonstrated that it was possible to reduce executive power and strengthen democratic institutions. Although many of its reforms were subsequently reversed, Pieris argued that its lasting significance lay in showing that constitutional limits on executive authority could command broad public support.
Independent judiciary
He maintained that constitutional guarantees are meaningful only when supported by an independent judiciary capable of enforcing them.
Highlighting several landmark Sri Lankan judicial decisions, Pieris said the courts have at crucial moments demonstrated their willingness to uphold constitutionalism against executive and legislative overreach.
However, he emphasised that courts alone cannot preserve democracy.
A resilient constitutional order, he argued, depends equally on an effective Parliament, independent commissions, a professional public service, impartial law enforcement, a free media, an independent legal profession and an active civil society.
“When any one of these institutions is captured or hollowed out, the others are weakened too,” he warned.
Decentralised power
Pieris also highlighted Dr. Wickramaratne’s discussion of devolution, describing meaningful power-sharing as a constitutional necessity in a plural society rather than a political concession.
He said decentralising power strengthens national unity by ensuring that constitutional protections extend to all communities and by reducing the dangers inherent in excessive centralisation.
Concluding his address, Pieris said Constitutional Conversations demonstrates that constitutional reform is not a single political event but an ongoing national dialogue requiring constant public engagement.
He described the book as an important contribution to Sri Lanka’s constitutional discourse, urging future generations to continue the conversation on democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law.
Dr. Wickramaratne’s work, he said, serves as a timely reminder that constitutions endure only when citizens and institutions remain committed to defending democratic values, constitutional limits and the principle that no individual or office stands above the law.
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