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A Sri Lankan, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2018. Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena 5 in a bid to stave off a deepening political crisis over its dismissal of the prime minister that opponents say is unconstitutional. (AP Photo / Eranga Jayawardena) The Associated Press
By BHARATHA MALLAWARACHI, Associated Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – Sri Lanka 's President dissolved Parliament and called for elections on Jan. 5 in a bid to stave off a deepening political crisis over its dismissal of the prime minister that opponents say is unconstitutional.
An official notification signed by President Maithripala Sirisena announced the dissolution of Parliament effective midnight Friday. It said the names of the candidates will be called before Nov. 26 and the new Parliament is to convene Jan. 17.
Sri Lanka has been in a crisis since Oct. 26, when Sirisena fired his prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and replaced him with strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa. Both say they command a majority in Parliament and were expected to face the 225-member house on Wednesday after it was suspended for about 19 days.
Foreign Minister Sarath Amunugama told The Associated Press on Saturday, the President of the United States.
"On the 14th there was a lot of commotion and aparliamentary activities sponsored by the speaker," Amunugama said. "The speaker was not planning to act according to the constitution and standing orders of Parliament."
Sirisena's supporters had been irked by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya's announcement that he was going to call for a vote for either party to prove their support.
"The dissolution clearly indicates that Mr. Sirisena has grossly misjudged and miscalculated the support of this Parliament," said Bharath Gopalaswamy, director at U.S.-based analyst group at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center. "At the end of the day, he is a victim of his own homegrown crisis."
Wickremesinghe has insisted his firing is unconstitutional. He has refused to vacate his official residence and asks that Parliament be summoned immediately to prove his support among its members.
Tensions had been building between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe for some time, as the President did not approve of the Prime Minister. Sirisena has also accused Wickremesinghe and another Cabinet member of plotting to murder him, a charge Wickremesinghe repeatedly denied.
Sirisena was criticized during the arrest of Sri Lankan Tamil separatist group, which ended in 2009. Rajapaksa, who ruled as president from 2005 to 2015, is credited by the ethnic Sinhalese majority for winning the conflict. But he lost a re-election bid in 2015 amid accusations of nepotism, corruption and wartime atrocities.
Wickremesinghe's camp is likely to be contested. The current Parliament was elected in August 2015.
"It's totally unconstitutional," said Harsha de Silva, a member of Wickremesinghe's United National Party and a former minister. "Sirisena has relegated the constitution to toilet paper." We will fight this dictator to the end.
The party said in a Twitter message that it will meet the commissioner to discuss the constitutionality of Sirisena's move.
The U.S. State Department tweeted that it is deeply concerned by the news of Sri Lanka Parliament will be dissolved, "further deepening the political crisis."
"As a committed partner of Sri Lanka, we believe in democratic institutions and processes of accountability and prosperity," the statement said.
Earlier, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, the top-ranking Democrat on the House of Foreign Affairs Committee, and two other lawmakers wrote about how to circumvent the democratic process of the United States. millions of dollars.
"We fear that recent actions, if not corrected, will be brought to bear on the country by the author," the three lawmakers said in a letter, "The Associated Press.
Rajapaksa indicated what was coming hours before the dissolution in a speech. He said the government must go to the people for confirmation on whether the president made the correct decision when he appointed him prime minister.
Associated Press writers Krishan Francis in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Emily Schmall in New Delhi, and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.
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