UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday called on the Sri Lankan government to ensure peace and the safety of all Sri Lankans and respect democratic values and constitutional provisions amid a deepening political crisis in the country.

Farhan Haq, UN deputy spokesman, said on Saturday that Guterres "underlines the utmost importance of respecting democratic processes and institutions and resolving differences in accordance with the rule of law and due process".

Sri Lanka has been facing political turmoil since Oct 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former president Mahinda Rajapakse to the post, which means the cabinet was automatically dissolved.

Wickremesinghe has refused to vacate the official prime minister's residence saying he was the rightful prime minister and had a parliamentary majority.

Sirisena dissolved the parliament late on Friday and declared Jan 5 as the date for a snap parliamentary election.

The US Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs said in a tweet that the United States was "deeply concerned by news the Sri Lanka Parliament will be dissolved, further deepening the political crisis". It said democracy needed to be respected to ensure stability and prosperity.

A spokeswoman for the European Union's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, said in a statement that the move "risks undermining public confidence in the country's democratic institutions and processes and further deepens the political and economic crisis in the country".

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.

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.

Sirisena suspended the parliament till Nov 14.

Xinhua - Reuters