President Maithripala Sirisena has said yesterday that the constitutional experts have agreed to limit a term of the president to five years.

Speaking at an event in Polonnaruwa yesterday, he said that he had urged to reduce it even further, to four years.

Sirisena said that he had made this suggestion at the discussions that are currently taking place on the constituitonal steps to be taken to limit the presidential powers and increase the powers of the parliament.

He added that the other participants at the discussions had been reluctant to reduce the term too much since there will be an election every four years. Therefore, they had arrived at a compromise of a five year term, Sirisena said.

Under the 1978 Constitution, the President can hold office and could be elected twice to office. However, the 18th Amendment to the constitution removed the limit on the number of times a president could be elected to office. The 18th Amendment is expected to be repealed under the constitutional reforms in the '100 Day Program.'