Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena (Photo: Internet)

An official notification signed by Sirisena announced the dissolution of Parliament effective at midnight Friday. Sirisena also called a general election for January 5.

The U.S State Department said on its Twitter page that it is deeply concerned by news the Sri Lanka Parliament will be dissolved, “further deepening the political crisis.”

Mark Field, the British minister of State for Asia and the Pacific, tweeted his concern about the dissolution of parliament days before it was due to be reconvened and called on all parties to uphold the constitution and respect democratic institutions and processes.

Canada’s Foreign Policy twitter feed said that it was “deeply concerned” about the decision and referred to the risks to reconciliation work after the nation’s civil war.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne expressed both concern and disappointment in a statement, saying the move “undermines Sri Lanka’s long democratic tradition and poses a risk to its stability and prosperity”.