Sri Lanka: Parliament Votes Against Rajapaksa Government

Guwahati: A day after the Country's Supreme Court overturned a presidential verdict of dissolving the legislature.,the Sri Lankan Parliament on Wednesday passed a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's government.

Talking about the landmark incident in Srilankan Politics,Speaker Karu Jayasuriya revealed that a majority of the 225-member assembly supported a no-confidence motion against Mr. Rajapaksa who was made prime minister on October 26 in place of Ranil Wickremesinghe.

However, the result does not automatically mean that Wickremesinghe, who had refused to leave the Prime Minister's residence, has won the constitutional showdown. Though his party is the biggest in parliament, President Maithripala Sirisena, who had backed Rajapaksa, retains the power to choose the next prime minister for the Island country.

The motion was moved by United National Party (UNP) member Lakshman Kiriella.

Amid all the hustle and bustle Just before the vote was taken up, Mr. Rajapaksa walked out of the chamber, escorted by his son and MP Namal Rajapaksa, following which MPs backing him tried disrupting the vote.

The members loyal to Mr. Rajapaksa attempted to take advantage of the situation and tried to disrupt the vote, but Mr. Jayasuriya went ahead.

“According to the voice, I recognise that the government has no majority,” Mr. Jayasuriya announced, even though those in support of Mr. Rajapaksa's protested.

Several ministers in Mr. Rajapaksa's cabinet came out of parliament accusing the speaker of violating parliamentary norms by holding the crucial vote against their wishes.

Stating that his Party did not recognise Wednesday’s vote, Namal Rajapaksa ,MP and son of the purported prime minister, told the media, “The speaker said over the noise that he wanted us to scream to decide who’s the prime minister."

It may be mentioned that Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed President Maithripala Sirisena’s dissolution of Parliament and restrained the Election Commission from preparing for snap elections.

President Sirisena’s decision to dissolve Parliament November 9, came shortly after his party publicly admitted to lacking a majority in the House intensified a political crisis that began on October 26.

Mr. Sirisena,in a spontaneous move, dethroned PM Wickremesinghe, replacing him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and swiftly swore in a “new cabinet”, inspite of strong criticism.

In a two weeks time, Mr. Sirisena dissolved the Parliament, preventing a vote on the House to test the rival camps claims to majority. Almost all political parties joined by one independent election commissioner, except those aligned to the Sirisena-Rajapaksa front, petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday, challenging the “illegal” action.

Also Read: Tamil Nadu leaders condemn Sri Lankan parliament’s dissolution