Sri Lanka president calls snap poll

Fresh elections have been called

The Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, has dissolved parliament and scheduled snap elections for early December - just one year after the last parliamentary polls.

The decision comes after it became clear the government would face defeat in a confidence motion on Thursday.

Parliament is dissolved and the election likely to be early December

Senior government official

The defection earlier of 13 members of her coalition - including several ministers - meant there was no prospect of the government surviving.

One leading defector said they had joined the opposition as they could no longer defend an inefficient and corrupt administration.

Opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe condemned the dissolution of parliament and said it had prevented the opposition from proving its majority on the floor of the House.

"The president is running scared," Mr Wickramasinghe said. "But the people will give her party a fitting reply at the elections."

No trust vote

The government had hoped to survive the no-confidence vote with the backing of Sri Lanka's main Marxist party, the JVP (People's Liberation Front).

The opposition now has a clear majority

The JVP has 10 seats in the 225-seat parliament and was crucial to President Kumaratunga's survival after a key Muslim ally withdrew from the government in June.

However, the latest defections mean that even with the JVP's support, the government is now in a minority.

The JVP had asked the government to freeze its privatisation programme, implement labour laws and avoid signing agreements with international lending organisations in return for its support.

It also made President Kumaratunga drop half the ministers from her cabinet.

Fresh elections

Under the Sri Lankan constitution, the president cannot dissolve parliament and call fresh elections until a year has passed since the last vote.

That deadline passes on Wednesday and parliament can now be dissolved after midnight.

The BBC's Colombo correspondent, Frances Harrison, says that is her most likely option paving the way for fresh elections in the coming months.

But that is also something that Sri Lanka can ill afford as it is facing its worst economic crisis since independence.

The president is elected separately so that even if the government changes, Ms Kumaratunga can stay on until her term ends in 2005.