(FMM/IFEX) – On 09 September (local date), the 1998 FREE MEDIA MOVEMENT (FMM) of Sri Lanka filed a Fundamental Rights case in the Supreme Court against the postponement of Provincial Council Elections by declaring an emergency situation all over the country four weeks before. Elections were due on 28 August 1998. Its secretary, Sunanda Deshapriya, […]
(FMM/IFEX) – On 09 September (local date), the 1998 FREE MEDIA MOVEMENT
(FMM) of Sri Lanka filed a Fundamental Rights case in the Supreme Court
against the postponement of Provincial Council Elections by declaring an
emergency situation all over the country four weeks before. Elections were
due on 28 August 1998. Its secretary, Sunanda Deshapriya, and treasurer,
Waruna Karunatilaka, filed the petition on behalf of the FMM. Opposition
political parties also filed writ applications against the declaration of
emergency in order to postpone the Provincial Council election. FMM was the
only organization to file a Fundamental Rights case in this regard. The
petition states that the emergency regulation P10 is unconstitutional and
contrary to the provisions of the contitution, inter alia, for the following
reasons:
suspending the provisions of the constitution relating to the Provincial
Councils.
franchise guaranteed by Articles 3 and 4 of the Constitution.
