The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition
Sajith Premadasa responded to the Speaker’s ruling by saying he was not challenging its substance, but wished to reaffirm democratic principles. He emphasized that the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary derive their authority from the people’s sovereignty under the Constitution, and that separation of powers and checks and balances must guide how each branch exercises its powers.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I would not, in any way, try to challenge the substance of your Ruling. But, I would like to reiterate certain principles that we uphold in a democracy. Those principles involve the separation of powers of the three major branches of government. In addition to that, each of those three branches are bestowed with powers to promote checks and balances within those three branches. Those three branches assume their powers through people’s sovereignty. The Constitution specifically states that the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary, the three major branches of power which constitute the main elements of a democratic society, shall exercise power through people’s sovereignty. So, people’s sovereignty has provided, through our constitutional provisions, that judicial power, executive power, legislative power shall be carried out—
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Friday, 9 January 2026 ·No. 23149 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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/lk/speeches/1569
Cite as: The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 9 January 2026. No. 23149. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/1569