President of Sri Lanka suspends Parliament until 16 November as political crisis worsens

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended Parliament until 16 November after the dismissal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who called for an emergency meeting to prove his majority , aggravating the political crisis in the island country.

Sirisena's gesture is seen as an effort to allow former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa to gain time for a majority in Parliament.

Rajapaksa and Sirisena have only 95 seats and do not have a simple majority of the 225 seats in the room. The Wickremesinghe Unified National Party (UNP) has 106 seats, with only seven seats less than the majority.

The UNP claimed that President Sirisena had tried to prorogue the parliament, as Rajapaksa did not have a majority in the House.

Parliamentary officials said the chair prorogued the meeting until November 16. Parliament was scheduled to meet on November 5 to unveil the 2019 annual budget.

The decision to suspend parliament was taken as a result of an urgent request from Wickremesinghe to convene an emergency session of the house.

Wickremesinghe baderted that Rajapaksa's swearing in his place was "illegal and unconstitutional".

Wickremesinghe, addressing the media as well as the leaders of his party, said: "It is a crisis created, this crisis is not necessary. People should not suffer at this difficult time. "

He said that the crisis could be solved without difficulty if parliament was summoned. "I can prove the majority in the House," Wickremesinghe said.

UNP supporters demonstrated in front of Temple Trees against the decision made by the president to dismiss Wickremesinghe.

Sirisena made official the sacking of his former ally on Saturday by publishing two extraordinary notices in the Official Journal.

The first notice appeared on Wickremesinghe who had been removed from office as prime minister and the other on the appointment of Rajapaska as prime minister.

Sirisena also ordered the dismissal of Prime Minister Saman Ekanayake's secretary.

The Secretary to the Prime Minister was removed from office by virtue of the powers conferred on the President as the appointing authority.

Responding in writing to Sirisena, Wickremesinghe said that he was still the "constitutionally appointed prime minister" of Sri Lanka.

"I am writing to inform you that I am the constitutionally appointed Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and that I occupy this position and control the confidence of Parliament, such as the provides for Article 42 (4) of the Constitution, "the letter said.

President Sirisena, in the letter Wickremesinghe, officially announced that he had been sacked as Prime Minister.

Sirisena informed Wickremesinghe that he had been dismissed from his post in accordance with section 42 (4) of the Constitution.

Rauff Hakeem, leader of the Muslim Congress of Sri Lanka, said his party would strongly support Wickremesinghe.

Mano Ganesan, Palani Digambaram and Rishath Bathiyutheen, two other Tamil and Muslim minority party leaders, also stated that they would strongly support Wickremesinghe and called on Sirisena to overthrow Wickremesinghe illegally and unconstitutionally.

UN resolutions pbaded under Rajapaksa's former regime were co-sponsored by the Wickremesinghe government, which committed itself to providing justice to Tamil victims of the separatist war unleashed by the LTTE.

The dismissal of Wickremesinghe by Sirisena marks the culmination of a year of bitter relations between them over several policy issues. The president criticized the prime minister and his policies, especially in the area of ​​economy and security.

In April, Wickremesinghe successfully defeated a motion of censure in Parliament developed by Sirisena with the support of Rajapaksa.

The UNP however suffered a defection after Rajapaksa's swearing-in. Ananda Aluthgamage met with the former president and gave her support.

Political developments developed after the Sirisena Unified Political Front, the People's Alliance for People's Liberty (UPFA), announced its decision to leave the current union government with the United States. UNP of Wickremesinghe.

The Union Government was formed in 2015 when Sirisena was elected president with the support of Wickremesinghe, thus ending a nearly ten-year government led by Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa's return to power ends a coalition government formed more than three years ago by Sirisena and Wickremesinghe to fight corruption and financial irregularities.

The union government was plunged into a crisis after Rajapaksa's new party had won a landslide victory in the February local elections considered a referendum on the ruling alliance.

Sri Lanka almost faced economic sanctions imposed by the West as a result of Rajapakse's brutal military crackdown against the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The LTTE was seeking a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009, after the Sri Lankan army had killed its country. supreme leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Rajapaksa and his family are confronted with several cases of corruption and financial irregularities.