Colombo: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, involved in a bitter power struggle with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, tonight (Feb 07, 2004) dissolved the Parliament nearly four years ahead of its tenure and called for elections on April 2.

Kumaratunga used her executive powers to dissolve the 225-member legislature led by Wickremesinghe, brushing aside international pressure to avoid the snap elections.

Officials said the dismissal of Parliament goes into effect at midnight.

"We have just got the gazette notification for immediate printing," said Government printer Neville Nanayakkara tasked with printing such official notifications.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe cancelled his planned official visit to Thailand following the dissolution of Parliament.

"I can't go to Thailand as a caretaker Prime Minister," he said.

With the sacking of the legislature, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet must assume a caretaker position with no powers to take key decisions on running the country.

There had been intense pressure on Kumaratunga to avoid a snap election with India and the US urging the two squabbling leaders to end their bitter rivalry and resume peace negotiations with LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels.

The Tigers had warned that the tug-of-war between the two Sinhalese leaders was undermining peace efforts and also suggested that the country could slip back to war.

Kumaratunga had been in an uneasy cohabitation arrangement with Wickremesinghe since his party won Parliamentary elections in December 2001.

The two leaders, who are elected separately, were at odds over the handling of the Norwegian-backed peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels aimed at ending three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.