The President Hon. Ranil Wickremesinghe prorogued the Parliament in accordance with the powers vested in him with Article 70 (1) of the Constitution with effect from midnight today (26)  announcing that the fifth session of the Ninth Parliament will commence on February 07 at 10.30 am.

According to subsections (a) and (b) of Article 33 of the Constitution, following the end of one session of Parliament and a new session commences, the President has the opportunity to ceremonially declare open the Parliament and preside over to present the Government’s Policy Statement.

When the Parliament is prorogued, the questions and motions that have not been considered by the Parliament until then will be abolished, and the Members of Parliament thus have to take it up again in accordance with the standing orders. Furthermore, all other committees except the Liaison Committee of Parliament, Committee on High Posts, Select Committees and Sectoral Oversight Committees, should be re constituted following the beginning of the new session.

The first session of the Ninth Parliament was held from August 20, 2020 to December 12, 2021, and the second session was held from January 18, 2022 to July 28, 2022. The third session of the Ninth Parliament was held from August 3, 2022, 27^th January 2023 and fourth session of the Ninth Parliament was started from 8^th February 2023 and by the time the session ended midnight today (26), the Parliament had met for 106 days.