Sri Lanka’s political crisis heightens with Mahinda Rajapakse’s party not accepting NCM
Posted on November 14th, 2018

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, Nov 14 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka’s political crisis heightened further on Wednesday when ousted Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former president Mahinda Rajapakse both claimed they would continue in government following a heated debate in Parliament earlier in the day.

Hours after a no confidence motion was submitted on the floor of Parliament against new Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and his government, ousted Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the motion had been passed through a ‘voice vote’ with a majority of legislators voting for it.

He then told journalists in a media briefing from the Parliamentary complex that 122 legislators in the 225 member Parliament had signed a motion favoring the no confidence motion and it was handed to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.

Sri Lanka’s political crisis heightens with Mahinda Rajapakse’s party not accepting NCM

Now that the motion has been passed, the government which ruled before Oct 26 will come back into effect. I am informing the police and state officials not to carry out any orders handed over by the illegal government,” Wickremesinghe said.

However Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna legislator, Dinesh Gunawardena said the vote of no confidence had been invalid as Speaker Jayasuriya had not followed the normal parliamentary traditions by calling for an electronic vote.

He said the new government led by President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse would continue in government and all ministries would continue to function under the new regime.

Meanwhile protests erupted outside the country’s Parliament by pro-Rajapakse  supporters with riot police called in to maintain law and order.

Parliament is expected to convene again on Thursday.

Sri Lanka has been embroiled in a severe political turmoil, when on Oct 26, President Sirisena surprisingly sacked his cabinet and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former president Mahinda Rajapakse to the post and appointed a new caretaker government.

Wickremesinghe’s United National Party called the sacking illegal and called for Parliament to convene to prove their majority.

As the political instability continued, President Sirisena, last Friday dissolved Parliament and called for a snap parliamentary election in January which was temporarily suspended till December by the Supreme Court in a ruling handed out on Tuesday.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

 

 


Copyright © 2024 LankaWeb.com. All Rights Reserved. Powered by Wordpress