Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena will reconvene parliament on November 5, newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa said on Thursday, as international pressure builds to resolve a political crisis.
Sirisena named Rajapaksa as prime minister on Friday after abruptly dismissing the government of Ranil Wickremesinghe.
“President has decided to reconvene the parliament on 5th,” Rajapaksa said addressing a meeting at the prime minister’s office.
Wickremesinghe was quick to react, saying “democracy will prevail”
“The people’s voices have been heard,” he tweeted.
Wickremesinghe has said his removal is unconstitutional and has demanded he be allowed to prove his parliamentary majority.
Sirisena had earlier prorogued the parliament till November 16 but political parties and foreign powers urged an earlier session to resolve the crisis.
The move comes a day after President Sirisena and speaker of parliament, who belongs to sacked prime minister’s United National Party, held a meeting to resolve the political deadlock.
The island nation has been gripped by constitutional chaos after Sirisena appointed Rajapaksa – a controversial leader whom Sirisena had defeated in 2015 presidential elections – to the prime minister’s post.
The surprise moves, which critics denounced as a “coup”, drew tens of thousands of protesters to the streets of Colombo on Tuesday.
Despite the dispute over the legality of his appointment, the newly appointed prime minister continued to consolidate power. On Wednesday, Rajapaksa assumed the finance minister’s duties and officials said he was expected to begin work on the state budget for 2018 soon.
Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, remained holed up in the prime minister’s official residence at Temple Trees, where Buddhist monks have been reciting prayers throughout the day.
The ousted prime minister, whose popularity is declining amid widespread anger over costs of living, insisted he commanded majority support in the House.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
from Viral Trendy Update https://ift.tt/2Pxg5yV
via IFTTT
0 Comments