Minister of Education Prof.G. L. Pieris stated today (05) that the report by the nine-member expert committee on the formulation of a new constitution is expected in July. “The forefront of our government's programme is to draft a new constitution for this country as it is an urgent need. The present constitution itself was drafted 43 years ago and Sri Lankan society has changed significantly since then. Therefore, various parts of the Constitution in force today are outdated. We see it as a matter of urgency to study the entire Constitution in depth and formulate a new Constitution. As it has to be done carefully, our government has appointed an expert committee headed by President's Counsel Romesh de Silva as the first step,” he stated at a media briefing held by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna today (05). Further, he revealed that Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene will table a motion in Parliament today (05) requesting a full investigation into all legal systems affecting our country's elections and submit a report to the Parliament on necessary amendments. He also brought to attention that a provincial council election has not been held for nearly three years. “The reason for this is that the Yahapalana government brought a bill to Parliament in 2017 with the purpose of abolishing the existing election system and it was not replaced by a new system. A bill prepared on the representation of women was presented to Parliament and the form of the Act was changed by adding 31 amendments and 35 pages during the 3rd reading. Finally, for the first time in the history of the world, a minister with a unique experience in the democratic parliamentary system voted against his proposal. This was done not to improve the provincial council system, but rather to subvert the fear of the people,” he said.