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COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's parliament on Wednesday passed constitutional reforms enabling President Mahinda Rajapakse to seek a third term, in changes critics say point to the country's slide into autocracy.
The amendment scraps the two-term limit, allowing the populist Rajapakse, who was resoundingly re-elected for the second time in January, to stand at the next polls, scheduled for 2016.
Rajapakse, 64, secured the required two-thirds majority with 161 votes in the 225-member parliament, state television announced.
The main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), boycotted the vote in protest, and just 17 lawmakers voted against.
The bill, which was cleared on Tuesday by the Supreme Court, also hands the president increased power to appoint officials to key posts in the judiciary, police, election commission and central bank.
"We are presenting the 18th amendment to the constitution today because we believe it will give us a strong leader to fast-track economic development after the war," Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne told parliament.
Rajapakse, who oversaw the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in May last year after decades of conflict, already stands accused of using the immense power of his position as executive president to stifle any opposition.
"Today marks the death of democracy," said opposition lawmaker M. Sumanthiran, a member of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and human rights lawyer, during the parliamentary session before the vote.
"History has shown us that too much power centered around one individual is bad for good governance," Sumanthiran added.
UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said his party's lawmakers had not voted as they did not want "to be contaminated by this undemocratic act."
Rajapakse's most vocal backers - his party, the state media and his three brothers, who hold key public positions - argue that the changes will ensure stability as the mostly Buddhist nation recovers from 37 years of conflict.
They also point to a requirement under the amendment for the president to appear before parliament every three months - though this nod to accountability is limited by the inability of lawmakers to challenge the head of state.
Thousands of pro-government supporters gathered in central Colombo during the day, blocking roads around the parliament and brandishing posters saying "Long live the president!" or "We need a strong president."
Rajapakse, who grew up in the rural south, says his urban opposition critics in Colombo are simply biased because of his background.
"They fear I will secure a third term," he told newspaper editors on Monday. "But they (opposition political parties) would not have resisted so fiercely if someone with an elitist background had sought to do so."
The UNP, the TNA and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, a former war hero who fell out with the president, have led political opposition to the bill.
UNP lawmaker Harsha de Silva has said the amendment was "intended to perpetuate the authoritarian rule under the facade of constitutionality," while the TNA says it would encourage "unhealthy political influence."
The bill was also condemned by lawyers, rights groups and some religious groups, who have criticised the lack of public scrutiny.
The head of the Sri Lankan Anglican church, Bishop Duleep de Chickera, said the move "will inevitably lead to a further, dangerous politicisation of our national institutions and a speedier, destructive erosion of our already fragile democratic culture."
The state media, criticised by election observers during polls earlier this year for its biased coverage in favour of Rajapakse, has given its unequivocal backing to the president.
"It is a historic day and a great day to further democratic governance in the country," said a presenter on the state-run Rupavahini television station during coverage of the rallies in Colombo.
A self-confessed hawk, Rajapakse is also under pressure to submit to an international war crimes inquiry into the latter stages of the island's civil war, when thousands of civilians are believed to have died.
- AFP/de
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