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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Sri Lanka plunged into a constitutional crisis Friday evening after the president ousted the prime minister, a move that took the nation by surprise and was denounced by some government ministers.
Sri Lankans were glued to their television sets President Maithripala Sirisena dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, a popular trainer who was accused of human rights abuses, brazen nepotism and excessively country.
The swearing-in ceremony, broadcast live, was a moment of high political drama for Sri Lanka, with Mr. Rajapaksa grinning as he shook Mr. Sirisena's hand. The men were formed by Mr. Rajapaksa's party in 2015 elections.
Fireworks and celebrations broke out in Sri Lanka after the swearing in ceremony, but the capital, Colombo, was uneasy as some cabinet ministers declared the move unconstitutional. Mr. Rajapaksa was sworn in at about 7 p.m. as the chiefs of the military's navy, air force and army watched in a stately room inside the presidential secretariat.
Cabinet ministers and parliamentarians began defecting to the new government, but it remained unclear The country's courts – seen as weak and politically influenced, President Sirisena.
"I am addressing you as the prime minister of Sri Lanka. I still hold the majority of the house, "Mr. Wickremesinghe said in an address to the nation. "Convene parliament and I will prove it."
Chaos gripped parts of the capital as Mr. Rajapaksa's supporters stormed the state-owned national television broadcaster and took it off air, air jordan, a clip. Troops were called to protect the channel's staff.
Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera tweeted Mr. Rajapaksa's appointment was "unconstitutional and illegal. This is an anti-democratic coup. "
The shake-up appeared to secure the re-ascendance of Mr. Rajapaksa, a man who served as Sri Lanka's president and prime minister for 10 years until 2015, when the country's decades-long civil war ended.
Mr. Rajapaksa is expected to win presidential elections next year, because Sri Lankans have grown up under the current government.
At the height of his power, Mr. Rajapaksa simultaneously served as president and finance minister, among other cabinet positions, while his three brothers served as defense and ministers of economy and ports. Between them they controlled 80 percent of the national budget and were accused of corruption and major human rights abuses. Their opponents and critics of their governance often disappeared.
Mr. Sirisena's power play is as much about the clashing personalities of the president and the prime minister as it is about geopolitics. The president and just-elected prime minister had been political leaders until they were able to meet Mr. Rajapaksa in 2015.
India and China have been vying for influence in Sri Lanka, the island nation off India's southern coast. The country's ties with China under Rajapaksa's rule, when he borrowed billions of dollars from Beijing's government to build infrastructure projects, with little economic purpose.
Struggling to repay debts, Sri Lanka handed over Hambantota seaport – a harbor built with Chinese money but struggling to pull in business – to Beijing in a 99-year lease last year.
Western officials worried that China could not use the strategically located port – which sits at the crossroads of one of the world's busiest maritime routes – for military purposes, which Beijing and Colombo have denied.
Tension between President Sirisena and his ousted prime minister, Mr. Wickremesinghe, had been growing up over the past few years. Mr. Sirisena began firing the heads of state institutions and was stacking them with loyalists.
The tension was exploded earlier this month when The Hindu, a major Indian daily, reported that Mr. Sirisena had said to Cabinet members that India's intelligence service had hatched a plot to assassinate him. Mr. Sirisena denied the report.
Last week, Mr. Wickremesinghe flew to India to meet with his counterpart, Narendra Modi Prime Minister, hoping to smooth relations. Mr. Wickremesinghe then released a summary of the meeting, claiming Mr. Modi had complained that Sri Lanka's government was stalling its infrastructure in the country and was not responding positively to India's diplomatic overtures.
Rajapaksa lost elections in 2015, when he was elected leader of the United Nations in Beijing.
After the elections, India said it would invest in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka and earlier this year to the Chinese-built seaport. But the airport deal has stalled.
American officials were unhappy with the government shake up, believing Mr. Rajapaksa is too close to China to keep the country neutral.
Vice President Mike Pence blasted what he called China's "debt trap diplomacy" earlier this month and singled out Sri Lanka, saying the Chinese-built seaport "may soon become a forward military base for China's growing blue-water navy."
