President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has assured that concerns over the dual citizenship clause in the 20th Amendment will be addressed when drafting a new Constitution.
The President gave the assurance when a group of ruling party Parliamentarians met the President and raised concerns over the dual citizenship clause, leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) Tissa Vitharana said.
Vitharana said that he and several others MPs in the Government are against the ual citizenship clause. However, he said that they have accepted the President’s assurance.
Minister and Pivithuru Hela Urumaya leader Udaya Gammanpila said that his party also opposes the dual citizenship clause. However he said that the President was concerned that the right for a dual citizen to contest an election in Sri Lanka was removed through the 19th Amendment and was later used to attack him.
Gammanpila said that the President assured that while that right will be reintroduced through the 20th Amendment it will be reconsidered when drafting a new Constitution.
Minister Wimal Weerawansa told Parliament that not just in Parliament, but dual citizens should not be allowed to hold even diplomatic posts.
Ashanthi Warunasuriya
