Sept 03, Colombo: Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Mangala Samaraweera today charged that President Mahinda Rajapaksa was heading towards a dictatorship.

Samaraweera told a press conference that the President was acting against the Mahinda Chinthana.

He noted that the mandate given to the President at the last Presidential election was not for the extension of the Executive Presidency.

Referring to the announcement by several UNP MPs that they would vote in favor of the constitutional amendments, Samaraweera said the President was acting undemocratically by forcing UNP members to support the constitutional amendments in parliament next week.