The new Sri Lankan government will present to Parliament the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which will be officially adopted as the 21st Amendment, the justice minister said on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka's Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapaksha told reporters that the 22nd Amendment sought to refine the 19th Amendment's shortcomings while annulling the 20th Amendment.

He said the 22nd Amendment, approved by the Cabinet on Monday, will be gazetted on Tuesday and will be "presented in the parliament as the first reading within seven days".

The Amendment was re-approved on Monday with some changes to its text as the same amendment was approved by the Cabinet of the previous government headed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in June last week.

The move came as protesters, who have been demanding reform in the country's political system, needed the government to restore the 19th Amendment adopted in 2015.

Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2020 adopted the 20th Amendment, giving himself full presidential powers in contrast to the 19th Amendment which had empowered the parliament over the president.

Explaining the serial number confusion on the amendments, Rajapaksha said the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), which had presented the 21st Amendment to the Supreme Court, failed to win the sanctioning of the highest court without a national referendum.

The minister said the SJB had called for the total abolition of the executive presidential system. "This cannot be done without a process to adopt a brand new constitution", Rajapaksha told reporters here.

He said this was the reason why the government presented the amendment as 22nd Amendment. "But it will be up to the secretary general of the parliament to rename it the 21st Amendment once it is approved in the parliament," the Justice Minister added.