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Sri Lankan media have described the dramatic gesture of President Maithripala Sirisena to sack Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appoint former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as his successor on Friday night as a "constitutional coup".
The sudden evolution of the political situation occurred while tensions between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe were growing on several policy issues. The president has been critical of the prime minister and his policies, particularly in the area of economy and security.
Reacting sharply to his dismissal, Wickremesinghe claimed that Rajapaksa's swearing in his place was "illegal and unconstitutional" and that he would prove his majority in Parliament.
The Sunday Morning English Opinion column shouted "Paradise Lost?" preliminary notes of Constitutional coup & # 39;
"The set of circumstances does not suggest how a change of government should take place in a democracy, but the delicate practices badociated with a constitutional coup, likely to lead to a constitutional crisis," he said. he declared.
"It is a constitutional blow because the incumbent Prime Minister has not legally stopped performing his duties before the appointment of a new prime minister," the newspaper added.
The Sunday Times wrote that the Sirisena-Rajapaksa agreement had been kept secret, and even Sirisena's loyalists were not aware until Rajapaksa was sworn in as prime minister.
"The cat is in the bag with the prorogation (suspension) of parliament until November 16. This clearly means that the present has been asked to create a situation of fait accompli that gives the new prime minister the power to negotiate with his new office to negotiate with the deputies, "The newspaper said in an editorial.
The newspapers chose not to refer to Wickremesinghe as former prime minister because of persistent lack of clarity as to the legality of Rajapaksa's appointment.
The Sunday Island editorial "Constitutional Coup" said: "The staggering Friday night events that surprised the country, but the ruling cabal faction of the UNP suggest that Sri Lanka is currently facing a apparently anarchic, of two prime ministers claiming to be
Meanwhile, security was strengthened in the capital Sunday morning.
The army, the police and the special working group were deployed around the presidential secretariat, soldiers being seen in the streets near important facilities.
Wickremesinghe, the deposed Prime Minister, remained in the Prime Minister's official residence, consisting of Temple Trees. Government sources said they would get a court order expelling Wickremesinghe from Temple Trees.
The UNP stated that the ousting of Wickremesinghe was illegal and that it would operate from there until the convocation of parliament and that a soil test would establish that he would still be the prime minister.
UNP deputies had begun signing a resolution extending their support to Wickremesinghe in order to prove its parliamentary majority and called for the immediate convocation of parliament after Sirisena had suspended his term until 16 November.
"We would hold a protest march Tuesday in Colombo against the unconstitutional action of the president," said a legislator of the UNP.
Sources close to Sirisena have announced that a new government would be sworn in on Monday and that it would be limited to 30 members. The government sent circulars to all state institutions. The previous cabinet was dissolved.
Sirisena and Wickremesinghe were united to form a national unity government in 2015 with the aim of introducing constitutional and governance reforms, including a new constitution to address the longstanding issues of the Tamil minority.
Rajapaksa's return to power ends a three-year-old coalition government formed by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe to fight corruption and financial irregularities.
Sirisena, who was Rajapaksa's health minister, has seconded him to challenge the presidential elections.
Political badysts said that Sirisena's decision to install Rajapaksa as prime minister could lead to a constitutional crisis, the 19th amendment to the constitution not allowing the dismissal of Wickremesinghe as a prime minister without a majority.
Rajapaksa and Sirisena have only 95 seats and a simple majority. The UNP Wickremesinghe has 106 seats, with only seven seats less than the majority.
Earlier this month, it was reported that Sirisena had accused his main coalition partner, the UNP, of not taking seriously a so-called badbadination plot for the badbadination, as well as Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the former Ministry of Defense bureaucrat and brother of ex-president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sri Lanka has almost faced economic sanctions from the West because of Rajapakse's brutal military crackdown against the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The LTTE sought a separate homeland for Tamils in the northern and eastern provinces of the island for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009, after the murder of its paramount chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran , by the Sri Lankan army.
Rajapaksa and his family have been confronted with several cases of corruption and financial irregularities.
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