The President of Sri Lanka has the power to summon, suspend, prorogue, or terminate a legislative session and to dissolve the Parliament.

The action of the president to either suspend or dissolve the Parliament is subject to legal scrutiny of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The Standing Orders of Parliament are the agreed rules under which procedure, debate, and the conduct of Members in the House are regulated.

[4] Following the Westminster model, all legislation in Sri Lanka must be passed by the Parliament to become law and it controls taxation and the supply of money to the government.

The Executive Council was composed of the Colonial Secretary, the officer commanding the Military Forces, the Attorney General, the Auditor-General and the Treasurer.

The duties of the council were advisory and the Governor of Ceylon, who presided over their meetings and consulted them, was at liberty to disregard their advice.

On 22 May 1972, when the republican constitution was enacted, the House of Representatives was replaced with the National State Assembly, which had 168 elected members.

In 1987, a grenade was lobbed into a conference room inside the Parliament complex where government MPs were meeting.

[6][7] This was the first time in Sri Lanka's political history that the two major parties agreed to work together in a joint government.

[8] UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose party won the most seats, was appointed prime minister, and the joint government lasted until 2018.

On 29 January 1930 the British Governor of Ceylon, Sir Herbert Stanley (1927–1931), opened a building fronting the ocean at Galle Face, Colombo, designed for meetings of the Legislative Council.

While Stanley Tillekeratne was the Speaker (1970–1977), the leaders of the political parties entrusted the drawing up of plans for a new Parliament building to architects, but the project was subsequently abandoned.

On 4 July 1979, Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa obtained sanction from Parliament to construct a new Parliament Building at Duwa, a 5 hectare (12 acre) island in the Diyawanna Oya (off Baddegana Road, Pita Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte), about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) east of Colombo.