President of Sri Lanka summons Parliament on 14 November as pressure on PM's dismissal increases

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena ordered the suspended parliament to meet again on November 14, paving the way for a vote on his decision to sack the elected prime minister and replace him with the nationalist of war Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sirisena abruptly dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on October 26 and appointed former President Rajapaksa as head of the ruling coalition, raising fears at home and abroad that this could undermine the ongoing process of national reconciliation. in Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe says his removal is unconstitutional. His party, United National Party, submitted a motion to this effect to Parliament, but Sirisena suspended its session until November 16, citing the need for Rajapaksa to make provisions for the new government to prevent voting.

The decree of Sirisena concerning the resumption of the house on November 14 was published in the official journal Sunday.

It was not clear if and when the 225 members of parliament would vote on the UNP motion that the dismissal of Wickremesinghe was illegal.

Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka to the military defeat of Tamil separatist guerrillas in 2009, but has since faced numerous allegations of human rights abuses and targeting of Tamil civilians.

Wickremesinghe told Reuters on Sunday that the United States and Japan had frozen more than a billion dollars in development aid after his brutal dismissal had raised doubts about the future of democracy in the island.

The move follows a warning from the EU that it could withdraw duty-free concessions for Sri Lankan exports if it did not respect commitments to national reconciliation.

Sirisena's summons comes after UNP Wickremesinghe said on Friday that 118 lawmakers had met with the speaker of the assembly to seek parliamentary approval to meet.

Before the dismissal of Wickremesinghe, the UNP held 107 seats. Of these, eight left the camp to support Rajapaksa. One in 16 Tamil MPs also joined Rajapaksa.

The animosity between Wickremesinghe and Sirisena is due, among other things, to Wickremesinghe's refusal to support the president's candidacy for the upcoming elections in late 2019. Sirisena also accused the Wickremesinghe government of not taking seriously an alleged assassination plot against him.

(Restores the deleted letter from Rajapaksa's first name in the first paragraph)