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Sri Lanka president suspends parliament after sacking PM

Sri Lankan soldiers stand alert at the former president Mahinda Rajapakse's residence after he was sworn in as prime minister in Colombo on October 27, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday suspended parliament till November 16, a day after removing Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and replacing him with former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa in a surprise move that signals escalating political tensions in the South Asian nation.

“The president has prorogued the parliament,” cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told reporters.

Minutes earlier Wickremesinghe, who says he remains prime minister, urged the speaker to convene parliament to prove he retained his parliamentary majority.

“I have the majority in the parliament, convene the parliament to resolve this,” Wickremesinghe told a press conference in Colombo on Saturday, flanked by all his coalition partners except Sirisena’s party.

Sri Lanka's ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (C) speaks to his supporters in Colombo on October 27, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

“Only parliament can show who has the majority,” he said.

The parliament suspension means Wickremesinghe will not immediately have an opportunity to prove his majority, amid speculation that some of his party members would cross over to back Rajapaksa for perks and ministerial portfolios.

The island nation’s Media and Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Friday condemned Rajapaksa’s appointment as “an anti-democratic coup” and violation of the constitution.

A delegation of the European Union said on Saturday that it was closely following the events in Sri Lanka.

"We urge all parties to fully act in accordance with Sri Lanka’s constitution, to refrain from violence, to follow due institutional process, to respect the independence of institutions, and freedom of media."

Sirisena administered the oath of office to Rajapaksa on Friday after sacking Wickremesinghe, who was away touring the south of the country. Under Sri Lanka's constitution, the prime minister heads parliament and the president has executive powers.

Maithripala Sirisena President of Sri Lanka, addresses the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit September 24, 2018 a day before the start of the General Debate of the 73rd session of the General Assembly at the United Nations in New York. (Photo by AFP)

The political rift, which comes amid weakening economic growth in Sri Lanka, follows months of infighting in the ruling coalition.

Relations between Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP) and Sirisensa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) have been strained recently after Sirisensa criticized Wickremesinghe’s for not adequately investigating an assassination plot against the president. The UPFA had threatened to quit the ruling coalition.

Sirisena accused India’s intelligence services of involvement in that plot, a claim New Delhi and Colombo have both denied.

India has been concerned about Rajapaksa’s wooing of China -- he ushered in billions of dollars of investment from Beijing to help rebuild the country following the end of a 26-year-long civil war against Tamil separatists in 2009.

That investment has since put the island nation deep in debt and forced it to hand over control of a strategic southern port to China, drawing criticism from India and the United States.

(Source: Reuters)


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