Sri Lanka, Nov. 3 -- Yes, I am ready to stand as a single-issue presidential candidate. I will serve for six months only, within which time I will abolish the Executive Presidency and institute a parliamentary system by constitutional methods. The roots of bribery, corruption, nepotism and bad governance lie in the Executive Presidency."

Those words, spoken by the Rev. Maduluwave Sobitha Thero in 2014, captured a conviction that had been growing for years and has never been properly settled: that placing so much authority in a single office is the central flaw in Sri Lanka's system of government.



Sobitha Thero's tireless efforts to resolve the constitutional crisis, abolish the Executive Presidency and secure a lasting devolution s...