Parliament to convene tomorrow

COLOMBO (News 1st) - The 4th session of the 8th Parliament of Sri Lanka is due to commence tomorrow. The sessions will be chaired by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Parliament was prorogued by an extraordinary gazette notification as per the powers of the President on December 2nd. Thereby the new parliamentary sessions will begin at 9:00 am tomorrow. The Sergeant-at-arms of Parliament Narendra Fernando said that ceremonial proceedings organized for the President including, the 21 gunshot salute and the guard of honour for the President have been cancelled as per the request of the president. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will chair the first sessions of parliament tomorrow after the welcome ceremony. As per the provisions of the constitution, the President will present the policy statement of the new government. Parliamentary sessions will be temporarily suspended after the President's throne speech tomorrow. Parliamentary sessions have been prorogued for more than 50 times since 1947. It was prorogued 25 times since 1978. After the 1978 constitution came into force the policy statement of the new government was presented to parliament instead of the President's throne speech. After the President presents the policy statement, parliamentary sessions will be temporarily suspended and postponed until 1:00 pm. Sergeant-at-arms of Parliament Narendra Fernando said that Sajith Premadasa will be officially named as the new Opposition Leader tomorrow. Appointments will also be made to the positions of Leader of the House, Chief Government Whip, and the opposition whip. Waruna Liyanage will be sworn in as an MP to fill the seat left vacant by the demise of MP Ranjith Soyza.