{"id":83210,"date":"2018-11-14T13:09:35","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T20:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=83210"},"modified":"2018-11-14T13:09:35","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T20:09:35","slug":"no-trust-vote-against-rajapaksa-regime-passed-amidst-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/11\/14\/no-trust-vote-against-rajapaksa-regime-passed-amidst-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"No Trust Vote against Rajapaksa regime \u201cpassed\u201d amidst chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n
Colombo, November 14 (newsin.asia): The Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament, Karu Jayasuriya \u00a0on Wednesday declared that a No Confidence Motion against the government of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was passed in the midst high voltage commotion and confusion.<\/div>\n
\n

There was no debate, and no vote as such was taken. But the Speaker said that voices and the look on the faces of the MPs showed that the motion had the approval of the majority of the members.<\/p>\n

\"No<\/div>\n

Later, the motion was said to have been passed with 122 votes in favor. The House has a total strength of 225.<\/p>\n

The government led by Prime Minister Rajapaksa vehemently protested when the Speaker said that a Motion of No Confidence presented by the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was being taken up.<\/p>\n

Government spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella said that the Standing Orders of Parliament lay shattered as the Speaker accepted a No Confidence Motion presented by the JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his chamber. Normally it takes about five days for a motion of this sort to be taken up by the House and that after consulting all parties in parliament. But on Wednesday the Speaker flagrantly flouted this norm.<\/p>\n

I say with responsibility that the current Speaker is the worst in the world,\u201d Rambukwella said.<\/p>\n

Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said the vote was not passed as the Speaker had not followed normal parliamentary traditions by calling for an electronic vote.<\/p>\n

During the uproar, Prime Minister Rajapaksa walked out and the Speaker declared the motion passed. He then promptly adjourned the House till Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

President Sirisena was not present. Customarily the President delivers an address on government\u2019s policy on the day a prorogued parliament is reconvened.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Karu Jayasuriya Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

United National Party (UNP) MP Lakshman Kiriella told journalists following the adjournment that the No Confidence Motion was passed in terms of parliamentary procedure.<\/p>\n

We have the majority and the proper parliamentary procedures were followed. The new government is no more. \u00a0Ranil Wickremesinghe will once again be the Prime Minister of the nation,\u201d Kiriella said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, some MPs and Ministers in the Rajapaksa government crossed the floor to the Opposition, further weakening the Rajapaksa camp.<\/p>\n

The Ministers who left were AHM.Fowzie, Vasantha Senanayake, Manusha Nanayakkara, Piyasena Gamage and Vadivel Suresh.<\/p>\n

As it is, the Sirisena-Rajapaksa government lacks majority. Its efforts to get 113 plus in the House of 225 since Rajapaksa took over as Prime Minister on October 26 upon the summary dismissal of the government headed by Ranil Wickremesinghe, had failed.<\/p>\n

It is not clear what President Sirisena would do now.<\/p>\n

We are still discussing the steps to be taken,\u201d said government spokesman Rambukwella.<\/p>\n

Possible Scenarios<\/strong><\/p>\n

Will President Sirisena call upon Ranil Wickremesinghe to form a government or will be calling someone from Wickremesinghe\u2019s United National Party (UNP) like Sajith Premadasa to form the government?<\/p>\n

Citing unbridgeable cultural, attitudinal and policy differences, Sirisena had declared that he will not be in office for even an hour if Wickremesinghe became PM.<\/p>\n

While Sajith Premadasa might be more congenial than Wickremesinghe, he has time and again declared that he will not take up the Premiership under the present circumstances.<\/p>\n

Can the President dissolve parliament? He cannot at this point of time because the Supreme Court is considering the issue in a case filed by opposition parties.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, the apex court had granted an interim stay on the President\u2019s proclamation dissolving \u00a0parliament. The court said that it is staying the proclamation till December 7 and that it will hear the case on from December 4 to 6.<\/p>\n

(The featured image at the top is that of Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia Colombo, November 14 (newsin.asia): The Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament, Karu Jayasuriya \u00a0on Wednesday declared that a No Confidence Motion against the government of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was passed in the midst high voltage commotion and confusion. There was no debate, and no vote as such was taken. But the Speaker […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}