The Parliamentary Election of 2000

It was only after the Presidential election that Mrs Kumaratunga and Pieris sought again to pass legislation designed to alleviate the ethnic problem by providing greater self government for the Tamils. A package had been prepared early in her tenure, which was also supposed to solve other problems created by Jayewardene, particularly with regard to the overweening powers of the President. The package however proposed to abolish these only after Mrs Kumaratunga's term; and now in 2000 it was to happen only at the end of her second term.

This enabled Wickremesinghe, as previously, to oppose the package, since it could be argued that it was more concerned with the interests of the incumbent President than with resolving problems. Nevertheless, fresh from her electoral victory, the President was able to attract several crossovers from the UNP. Many of them believed, as she seemed to do, that Wickremesinghe had initially promised to support her proposals regarding devolution, so his later criticism of these seemed cynical. When he sat impassive whilst members of his party burned the proposals on the floor of the house, he seemed to concur with the view that Mrs Kumaratunga was conceding too much to the Tamils. However, with the TULF declaring that the package was inadequate, it became clear that the required two thirds majority would not be obtained, and the attempt lapsed.