Chandrika Kumaratunga

The move is the latest in a standoff with her rival, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, that has sidelined efforts to revive peace talks with Tamil Tiger rebels to end a two-decade civil war that has killed 64,000 people.

"If the decision is deemed to be unconstitutional, the only body with the authority to do so is the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka," the Presidential Secretariat said in a statement.

Kumaratunga revealed Jan. 13 that she privately underwent a second swearing-in ceremony a year after she last took office that entitles her to stay in the post for an additional year, until November 2006 instead of December 2005.

Ranil Wickremesinghe

Kumaratunga was sworn in for a six-year term in 1994. Although the next presidential election was not due until 2000, she called an early poll in 1999, in which she was re-elected.

The question is whether her second six-year term started in 1999 -- due to the early election -- or in 2000, as would normally have been the case.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 24, 2004
(C) All rights reserved