Sri Lanka President to dissolve parliament by early January?

(December 20, Colombo - Lanka Polity) Sri Lanka President is likely to dissolve the parliament by early January, government sources say.

The parliament meetings are now adjourned till January 5. Opposition protested this move of the government to cancel the meetings stating that it would undermine he accountability. The President has reportedly taken this step to deploy his mega cabinet in his presidential campaign island wide. President Mahinda Rajapakse is running for the second term in the snap presidential to be held on January 26,  

The parliament is to debate the proposal to extend the emergency regulations by one month on January 5. Sri Lanka is ruled under emergency for decades and the extension month by month without strict opposition is customary in the parliament.

The President is expected to dissolve the parliament after January 5, sources say. The term of the current parliament ends in April 2010 and the Election Commissioner and the political parties need time to go for a general election.

Sri Lanka's major opposition has united to campaign for the victory of the common opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka. However, both capitalist United National Party (UNP) as well as Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP) have announced that they will run individually in the general election.