Sri Lanka: Prime Minister sacked and Parliament suspended: Crisis turns to crisis

Colombia, Sri Lanka – Sri Lanka is on the verge of constitutional crisis on Saturday with two men claiming to be the country's legitimate prime minister, while the president suspended Parliament until the middle of next month.

The confrontation began late Friday, when the increasingly fragile government coalition collapsed. President Maithripala Sirisena has replaced Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after months of tension between the two men, who head different parties.

Governments around the world and in the region are following developments in the situation, particularly India and China, who have embarked on a struggle for influence in the island nation. On Friday, the US State Department called on "all parties to act in accordance with Sri Lanka's constitution, to refrain from violence and to respect the procedure."

The split between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe marks the end of the national unity coalition that has ruled Sri Lanka for three years.

Sirisena was appointed Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapaksa, a controversial former president who was in power for almost ten years, until 2015. During his tenure, Rajapaksa used brutal force to end the protracted civil war that was rife in the country.

Television channels showed that Rajapaksa was sworn in as prime minister, but Wickremesinghe continued to occupy the prime minister's official residence and refused to step down. Wickremesinghe called for a vote in parliament to determine which party controlled the chamber.

"With regard to the position of Prime Minister, the person who has the support of the majority in Parliament must be the Prime Minister, and I have this majority of support," Wickremesinghe said, according to the agency Associated Press. "It's not necessary for us to create a crisis. It is not necessary that the inhabitants of the country suffer. "

But according to an official note signed Saturday by the secretary of the president, the assembly is "prorogée" until November 16 – a maneuver where the room is suspended for a time but not dissolved.

Proponents of Wickremesinghe called the effort to revoke it unconstitutional. "What happened was a political coup. The president was not allowed to do that, "said Minister of Megacity and Western Development Champika Ranawaka.

Harin Fernando, a member of Wickremesinghe's United National Party and also Minister of Telecommunications, said the party plans to launch protests on Monday. "We are ready for anything, we are ready to fight in the streets," Ranawaka said.

Allies Rajapaksa, the newly appointed prime minister, said the episode was a prelude to new elections. Namal Rajapaksa, son of Mahinda Rajapaksa and fellow parliamentarian, said that his father did not intend to keep his new job for long.

His father's discussions with the current president – once a fierce rival – had been devoted to setting up a stable interim government, and then to holding elections, said Namal Rajapaksa.

"The decisive test for any government, any party is the election. The government Ranil Wickremesinghe reported them. Our high-level discussions with the president focused on creating a stable government and then on holding elections, "he said.

However, holding new parliamentary elections should not be a simple task. It will require the dissolution of parliament and, in accordance with the Sri Lankan Constitution, two-thirds of the members must request such a step or four and a half years must have elapsed since the last election.

In the last six months, there has been a wide gap between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe on various issues. The political experts estimated that the coalition might collapse, but not for several months. Tensions between the two men culminated on October 16 over the possible transfer of a port development project to India: Wickremesinghe favored the move but Sirisena opposed it.

Ten days later, parliamentarians loyal to Sirisena officially withdrew their support for the government, resulting in the appointment of Rajapaksa as prime minister.

Slater reported from New Delhi.

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