Sri Lanka president calls for snap polls

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka plunged deeper into crisis Saturday after President Maithripala Sirisena called a snap election, leaving the country facing a further two months of damaging political paralysis with a pair of bitter rivals claiming to run his government.

In what opponents condemned as an illegal move, Sirisena dissolved parliament on Friday and announced a January election after it became clear his designated prime minister — former president Mahinda Rajapakse — would not be able to command a majority in the current legislature.