SUPREME COURT VERDICT OF SRI LANKA

December 14, 2018 admin Cartoon English News

Seven-member-bench of Supreme Court of Sri Lanka ruled out the dissolution of parliament by President Maithripala Sirisena ahead of the constitutional ceiling of four and half years.

President Sirisena dissolved the parliament on November 9 and set snap general election on January 5  after defecting to the  side of the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa whom he defeated in January 2015 with the support of United National Party (UNP). 

President Sirisena who had been the secretary of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by Rajapaksa defected from the party in November 2014 and contested the snap Presidential on January 5 as opposition common candidate. He defeated Rajapaksa and became both the President and the leader of SLFP.

Conflicts within the ruling UNP-SLFP coalition exacerbated after the local government elections in February this year. Rajapaksa led Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) marked a landslide victory in the election. However, Mahinda Rajapaksa remained within SLFP until he was sworn in as the Prime Minister on 26 October constitutional coup. Immediately after the election was called, he joined the SLPP with his parliamentary bandwagon. 

However, his appointment was challenged in court and the judiciary suspended his office until the hearing ended. 

Loyalists of President Sirisena and suspended Prime Minister Rajapaksa are boycotting the parliament whereas President Sirisena has been continuously rejecting appointing UNP leader Ranil Wickramasinghe as Prime Minister on personal grounds although Wickramasinghe has clearly shown majority support for him. 

Adapted from praja.lk