Sri
Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena on Friday dissolved parliament and
called a snap election after failing to gain enough support for his nominee for
prime minister, deepening the island’s political crisis with a gamble deemed
illegal by the ousted premier’s party.
Sirisena
sparked the two week-old drama last month by sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe as
prime minister and naming Mahinda Rajapakse — the country’s authoritarian
president from 2005 until 2015 — as his replacement.
But
Wickremesinghe has refused to back down, and the move to dissolve parliament
came hours after Sirisena’s party acknowledged that Rajapakse was eight MPs
short of a majority needed to end the power struggle.
Sirisena
signed a decree dismissing the island’s 225-member assembly and scheduled
parliamentary elections for January 5, nearly two years ahead of schedule.
International
concern has grown over the mounting turmoil, with Wickremesinghe refusing to
leave the premier’s official residence while the president also suspended
parliament to head off any revolt against his action.
There was
no immediate comment from Wickremesinghe, but his United National Party (UNP)
said it will challenge Sirisena’s sacking of the legislature.
“This
dissolution by the President is illegal and goes against the constitution,” the
UNP said on Twitter. “We will be fighting this to ensure that democracy reigns
supreme in the country.”
“He has
robbed the people of their rights and the democracy that we have enjoyed,” the
UNP said.
Sirisena’s
United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) admitted ahead of the president’s
stunning announcement that they had failed to secure enough cross-over MPs to
win a confidence vote in the House.
By
avoiding a test of his majority on the floor of the House, Rajapakse will
remain caretaker prime minister until elections are concluded and a new
parliament meets on January 17.
Before
signing the order sacking the parliament with effect from Friday midnight,
Sirisena also inducted more ministers into his cabinet.
“At the
moment we have 104 or 105 MPs,” UPFA spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told
reporters, adding that the Sirisena-Rajapakse group hoped to secure support
from “crossover” legislators.
The
admission, which came despite Sirisena’s earlier claim that he had the support
of 113 legislators when he sacked Wickremesinghe, had fuelled speculation that
he would go for snap elections.
The
leftist People’s Liberation Front (JVP), which regards the sacking of
Wickremesinghe as unconstitutional, accused Sirisena of trying to consolidate
his power grab.
“Dissolving
parliament at this time is illegal and goes against the constitution,” JVP
general secretary Tilvin Silva told reporters.
Sirisena
suspended parliament to give himself more time to engineer defections,
according to the opposition.
Several
legislators have said they were offered millions of dollars to switch
allegiance and at least eight have already jumped to the president’s side.
Wickremesinghe,
who has not left the Temple Trees residence since his sacking, maintains that
the action against him was unconstitutional and illegal, and insists his group
can muster a majority.
Under
pressure from the United Nations, United States and the European Union to allow
a parliament vote, Sirisena agreed three times to lift the suspension but
changed his mind each time.
The EU
said Friday, before the dissolution, that the crisis had scarred the Indian
Ocean island’s international reputation.
The EU, in
a joint statement with Norway and Switzerland, called for parliament to
reconvene and hold an immediate vote
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