President of Parliament against Rajapaksa as Prime Minister

The Speaker of the Sri Lankan Parliament said he could not accept Mahinda Rajapaksa, former president and strongman of the country, as the new prime minister.

Karu Jayasuriya said that Rajapaksa had to prove that he had the support of a majority in parliament.

"The majority of members are of the opinion that the changes made to Parliament are neither constitutional nor contrary to tradition," Jayasuriya said in a statement.

"Therefore, the majority of MPs have asked me to accept the post as before this change." Until a new group shows the majority, I have to accept the status quo before change, "he added.

Last month, President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his entire cabinet, before appointing Prime Minister Rajapaksa. The next day, Sirisena froze Parliament until 16 November. Thursday (1/11), in a move that seemed to bend to international pressure to resolve the political crisis, Sirisena turned it into November 5. Analysts believe that he has frozen parliament to give Rajapaksa time to get enough support for the government to survive without a vote of no confidence.

Sirisena said he dismissed Wickremesinghe after an informant told the police that a minister was part of a plot to kill him. He did not reveal the name of the minister. [lt]