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HomeNewsChange of heart for Sirisena as he reconsiders parliament dissolution

Change of heart for Sirisena as he reconsiders parliament dissolution

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After a month of uncertainty, reports from Sri Lanka say President Maithripala Sirisena is considering dropping his attempt to dissolve the parliament.

A Reuters report, which quoted sources close to the president, said the president may rescind the order, effectively pre-empting a court ruling that is expected to overturn his decision anyway.

The country went into crisis mode after the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was replaced with Mahinda Rajapaksa last month. But Rajapaksa, a former president, lost two confidence votes in parliament. Despite this he refused to resign.

Sirisena also issued an order dissolving the parliament and called for general election. But Sri Lanka’s top court stayed the dissolution order pending a hearing on its constitutionality that starts on Tuesday, allowing parliament to resume meeting.

Meanwhile, Rajapaksa has said that holding a snap parliamentary polls will be the best solution for the current crisis.

Both Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa claim to be the prime ministers. Wickremesinghe says his dismissal is invalid because he still holds a majority in the 225-member Parliament.

In a statement, Rajapaksa cites occasions in the history when Parliament had been dissolved to call parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka to avoid crisis and bring in political stability.

“The only way to restore stability to a destabilised democracy will be through a general election. According to our Constitution, sovereignty is vested in the people and not in Parliament,” the former strongman said.

Speculation are that President Sirisena may remove Rajapaksa on Wednesday when another motion would be taken up in Parliament and is defeated.

Following the vote, Sirisena would be forced to appoint a new prime minister and a Cabinet.

The Sri Lankan president has said that due to sharp personal differences with Wickremesinghe he would not reappoint him as the Prime Minister.

However, Wickremesinghe’s UNP claims that Sirisena will be left with no choice as he would be the man who will command the confidence in the House.

In the statement, Rajapaksa also slammed Wickremesinghe’s UNP of feeling shy of contesting a fresh poll.

The UNP has said that any election now would be unconstitutional, without restoring the pre-October 26 status.

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