(COLOMBO, Sri Lanka) — Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that President Maithripala Sirisena’s order to dissolve Parliament and hold new elections was unconstitutional, a much-anticipated verdict that further embroils the Indian Ocean nation in political crisis. A seven-judge bench of the highest court said Thursday the president lacks the power to dissolve Parliament at will before 4 ½ years from the day of its first sitting, citing a constitutional amendment that was passed in 2015, according to opposition counsel Jayampathy Wickramaratne. Sri Lanka’s crisis began in October when Sirisena abruptly sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place, the culmination of years of infighting over Wickremesinghe’s economic reforms and his efforts to investigate abuses during Sri Lanka’s long civil war, which ended in 2009.

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