Less than 48 hours ahead of the General election in Sri Lanka, the dissolved Parliament met for a day to extend the state of emergency by a month.<br/><br/>The State of Emergency was passed in the Parliament with 58 voting for it while 5 voting against the motion. Members of Tamil National Alliance and the ultra left JVP voted against the motion.<br/><br/>Under the Constitution of the island nation, Parliament alone has authority to extend the life of emergency regulations and that too period of one month only.<br/><br/>The sixth parliament was dissolved with effect from February 9th midnight. The dissolved House was re-convened on March 9th to validate an ordinance promulgated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa extending the emergency laws.<br/><br/>Today’s session had its significance in the fact that it was the final meeting of the parliamentarians and ministers in the dissolved Parliament. The new Parliament is scheduled to meet on April 22.