The Sri Lankan government proposes to introduce constitutional amendments aimed at extending the term of office of President Mahinda Rajapakse, without holding a presidential election, a local English newspaper quoted government sources as saying on Sunday.

As a prelude to the introduction of constitutional changes, an island wide campaign on gathering public support for the move had been initiated, Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government Janaka Bandara Tennakoon told the Sunday Times on Saturday.

A two thirds majority is required to repeal or replace any provision of the constitution. However, any amendment to extend the term of office of the president or the duration of parliament over six years should also be approved by the people at a referendum.

Rajapakse was elected to office in 2005 with a mandate of six years.

Tennakoon said the main reason for the move to scrap the next presidential election was to "save money" which could be eventually used for development activities -- but he made no reference to the cost of holding a referendum, which will be similar to that of a presidential election.

"At the moment there is also no suitable candidate to contest the president and therefore a majority of the people believe that the president should continue for another term without elections," the minister was quoted as saying.

The move has run into tough opposition from the two main opposition parties, the UNP (United National Party) and the JVP (People's Liberation Front) which have described it as a dangerous threat to democracy, said the newspaper.

UNP frontliner John Amaratunga said the move was undemocratic and the government needed a public mandate for any such move at a referendum.

The JVP propaganda secretary Vijitha Herath said the party was opposed to any move to extend the term of office of the president without holding elections.

Rajapakse is credited for leading a successful military offensive against the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which began to rebel against the government in the 1980s based on claims that the minority Tamils were discriminated by the majoritySinhalese dominated governments.

Source: Xinhua