Colombo, Feb. 7 (AFP): Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved the parliament today, clearing the way for an election on April 2.

Kumaratunga used her executive powers to dissolve the 225-member legislature led by Ranil Wickremesinghe, brushing aside international pressure to avoid the snap elections. Officials said the dismissal of parliament goes into effect at midnight.

The elections will be held almost four years ahead of schedule.

“We have just got the gazette notification for immediate printing,” said government printer Neville Nanayakkara who performs a quasi legal function in the publication of official notices.

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, have been 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.

The election call had been widely anticipated since a political feud erupted in November when Kumaratunga sacked three ministers in Wickremesinghe’s government, saying he had compromised security in his peace bid with the Tigers.

There was no immediate reaction from Wickremesinghe’s government to the dissolution after Kumaratunga last month entered into a pact with a radical Leftist party.

With the dissolution, the Prime Minister and his cabinet would function in a caretaker capacity with no power to take key decisions.