COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has decided to order early parliamentary elections in the hope that fresh elections will yield a legislature which will enable him to fulfill his election promises, informed sources said. This is after he found the current parliament to be a hard nut to crack.

Elections will be ordered whether or not Sirisena`s pet project, a constitutional amendment to reduce the powers of the Executive Presidency and depoliticize government institutions, is passed by parliament, the sources said.

Sirisena`s governmental partner, the United National Party (UNP) led by Ranil Wickremesinghe, is also of the same view.