A Prime Minister Wrote Himself a More Powerful Job Title Into the Constitution — Then Walked Into Parliament One Morning as President, With No Election Required

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Sri Lanka — Constitution Profile

📅 Current ConstitutionSeptember 7, 1978
🏛️ GovernmentPresidential Republic
🌍 CapitalSri Jayawardenepura Kotte
👤 First Executive PresidentJ.R. Jayewardene — took office without an election
✏️ Total Amendments22 (as of 2024)
🪧 Major 2022 EventPresident forced to resign by mass protests

Most heads of state have to win an election before they take office. Sri Lanka's most consequential constitutional figure never bothered with that step. He simply changed the rules of his existing job, then woke up one morning holding a completely different and far more powerful title — all without a single additional vote being cast.

He Didn't Wait for a New Constitution. He Just Amended the Old One First.

J.R. Jayewardene won Sri Lanka's 1977 parliamentary election as leader of the United National Party, with a landslide majority. But becoming Prime Minister wasn't his final destination. J. R. Jayewardene who came to office in July 1977 with a five-sixths majority passed the second amendment to the 1972 Constitution on 4 October 1977, which made the presidency an Executive post.

The amendment's wording made the transition mechanism unmistakably clear, almost suspiciously convenient. Clause 3 of the amendment specifically stated that: "The person holding the office of Prime Minister at the commencement of this amendment shall assume the office of the President of the Republic and shall exercise and perform the powers and functions pertaining to that office."

He Walked Out of Parliament as Prime Minister and Came Back as President of the Republic

The actual handover happened with remarkable speed and an almost surreal lack of ceremony. Under its provisions, then Prime Minister Jayawardene automatically took office as the first Executive President of Sri Lanka on 4 February 1978.

One columnist who lived through the period described the formal mechanics with a certain dry irony. JR however had to vacate Parliament as an MP in February 1978 after he was sworn in as President. A man who had spent his entire career winning seats in parliamentary elections suddenly had to leave parliament entirely — not because he'd lost anything, but because he'd just promoted himself into a different branch of government altogether.

He Then Wrote an Entirely New Constitution Around the Job He'd Already Given Himself

Having secured the executive presidency through amendment, Jayewardene didn't stop there. He went on to replace the entire constitutional document with one built specifically around his new office. The executive presidency ushered in through the earlier Second Amendment was now streamlined and incorporated in the new draft Constitution. The Executive President was now Head of State and Head of Government. The new Constitution referred to popularly as the "JR Constitution" was formally promulgated on 7 September 1978.

What's notable is that he had every legal tool available to simply wait and do this properly from the start. It could be seen therefore that J.R. Jayewardene initially did not bring in the Executive Presidency through a new Constitution. Although he had a two-thirds majority and could have easily waited for a while and formulated a new Constitution that incorporated provisions setting up an executive presidency. He chose the faster route instead — claim the office first, build the permanent legal architecture around it second.

He Wrote Himself Legal Immunity Directly Into the Document

Among the provisions in the new constitution was one that drew lasting criticism for how directly it protected the man who had written it. Article 35(1) in the Constitution he created reads as follows: "While any person holds office as President, no proceedings shall be instituted or continued against him in any court or tribunal in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him either in his official or private capacity."

One critical retrospective summarized just how far that protection extended in practice. These legal powers are supplemented by a powerful immunity clause, with the only exception that makes him amenable to the fundamental rights jurisdiction. A president could, under this clause, act with almost total legal insulation, with only the narrowest constitutional door left open to challenge him.

He Then Extended His Own Parliament's Term Through a Referendum — After Once Opposing the Same Tactic

Jayewardene's use of constitutional and electoral tools to consolidate power didn't stop with the presidency itself. He conducted and won a country-wide referendum which extended the term of office of the Parliament elected in 1977 for another six years. Elections should have been held in 1983. Instead it was put off until 1989 via the referendum. This was to retain the UNP's five-sixths parliamentary strength until J.R. Jayewardene's presidency ended.

The irony of this particular move was not lost on observers who remembered his earlier political career. Ironically this was the same JR who objected to the anti-democratic act of the Sirima Bandaranaike Government in extending Parliament's term by two years from 1975 to '77. He resigned his Colombo South seat and contested the 1975 by-election to safeguard democracy and romped home the winner. Now JR had no qualms about extending the life of Parliament by six years.

Forty-Four Years Later, a Different President Was Forced Out by the System Jayewardene Had Built

The executive presidency Jayewardene designed to give Sri Lanka decisive, insulated leadership eventually produced the opposite outcome under a much later president. Sri Lankan president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa finally resigned on 14 July 2022. The Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament confirmed the resignation on 15 July 2022. This is a tremendous victory for the people who have asserted their sovereignty through their daily activism.

What made this resignation so significant wasn't simply that a president left office under pressure — it was that the constitution itself offered citizens no formal mechanism to remove him through ordinary channels. Because the Sri Lankan Constitution's text failed to provide the legal means to restrain the president's powers through accountability to the parliament, people had to resort to individual and collective actions to compel the president to resign. One academic analysis didn't soften the comparison at all. The position of the executive presidency created by the 1978 Constitution of Sri Lanka doesn't have many rivals among democracies in the manner it concentrates power in a single individual.

Now Even the Man Who Wrote the Constitution's Own Defenders Have Mostly Given Up Defending It

More than four decades after Jayewardene's amendment first created the office, public sentiment in Sri Lanka has shifted dramatically against the system he built. According to a 2024 survey on Democracy and Reconciliation by the Centre for Policy Alternatives, three-quarters of Sri Lankans believe that democracy is preferable to any other form of government, while a majority preferred a new constitution — a figure that has increased considerably from 2016 to 2024.

Multiple presidents elected after Jayewardene have campaigned on dismantling the very office that brought their predecessor to power. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake campaigned on a platform of constitutional reform, vowing to "abolish the Executive Presidency" and replace it with a president "without executive powers" appointed by Parliament.

Constitution at a Glance

DetailInformation
Previous Constitution1972 (Republic of Sri Lanka)
Second Amendment (Executive Presidency Created)October 4, 1977
Jayewardene Became Executive PresidentFebruary 4, 1978 — no election
Current Constitution PromulgatedSeptember 7, 1978 — "the JR Constitution"
Parliament Term Extension Referendum1982 — extended to 1989
Total Amendments (as of 2024)22
19th Amendment (Power Reversal Attempt)2015
20th Amendment (Re-Consolidation)2020
President Resigned Under Public PressureGotabaya Rajapaksa, July 2022
Current Reform PushAbolish the Executive Presidency

📥 Read the Constitution of Sri Lanka

Read the complete, official text of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka:

👉 Read the Constitution of Sri Lanka — Official Parliament Website

A prime minister who amended his way into the presidency without an election. A constitution built around the immunity of the man who wrote it. A 2022 uprising that removed a president the document gave no formal way to remove. What part of Sri Lanka's story surprised you most? Tell us in the comments below.

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