Sri Lanka's president says he dissolved Parliament and called elections to avoid possible violence inside Parliament and around the country.
Maithripala Sirisena said he wanted to avoid violence if a vote was taken to decide who commanded the majority support to become prime minister.
In a televised address to the nation on Sunday evening, President Maithripala Sirisena said he heard stories from lawmakers on both sides of possible violence in parliament that could even result in deaths and clashes spreading around the country.
"It appeared to me that, if I allowed the parliament to be convened on the 14th, without dissolving it, it could have brought about commotion and fights in every city and every village [and] would lead to [a] very unpleasant and difficult situation for the average citizens of my beloved country," he said.
"As such, the best solution was not to allow those 225 members in the parliament to fight each other and allow that to develop into a street fights in every part of the country.
"It is my duty and the responsibility to ... create the situation for the 15 million voters in this country takes the ultimate decision by choosing their members to the parliament through a free and fair election."
The UN and foreign governments have expressed concerns over Sirisena's decision to dissolve parliament on Friday and his earlier sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe, whom he replaced with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Wickremesinghe says his sacking is unconstitutional and that he still has a majority support in parliament.
Sirisena initially suspended parliament until November 16, delaying the possibility of testing the majority.
He then dissolved it after being unable to secure support for Rajapaksa and called for elections to take place on January 5.
Several political parties have said they will petition the Supreme Court on Monday seeking to nullify parliament's dissolution.
A statement from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's office recently expressed concern.
"The Secretary-General underlines the utmost importance of respecting democratic processes and institutions and resolving differences in accordance with the rule of law and due process," said his deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq.
Hundreds of people gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, on Sunday for a candlelight vigil protesting what they purported an unconstitutional dissolution of parliament.
Australian Associated Press
