[Acrimonious divisions ultimately doomed the unity government, which was consumed by bitter infighting between Mr. Sirisena and Mr. Wickremesinghe. Sri Lankans have grown unhappy with the economy stagnating and social unrest breaking out at times, including outbursts of sectarian violence.]
By Dharisha Bastians and Maria
Abi-Habib
 |
|
Ranil
Wickremesinghe, center, who was ousted as Sri Lanka’s prime minister,
struck a defiant
tone as he spoke to supporters in Colombo on Saturday.
Credit
Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters
|
COLOMBO,
Sri Lanka — President
Mathripala Sirisena of Sri Lanka on Saturday suspended Parliament for two weeks
as he sought to shore up support for unseating the country’s prime minister,
escalating a political crisis.
Mr. Sirisena suspended Parliament after
ousting Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday, a move many lawmakers
and government ministers denounced as unconstitutional. Mr. Sirisena swore in
as prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, a popular former president who was accused
of human rights abuses and corruption during a decade in power.
Mr. Wickremesinghe struck a defiant tone,
claiming he was still prime minister. “Convene Parliament, and I will prove
it,” he said.
By Saturday afternoon, many lawmakers were
vowing to stick by Mr. Wickremesinghe, demanding that a formal count be taken
in Parliament to determine who held a majority in the house. That’s when Mr.
Sirisena announced that he was suspending Parliament. He also dismissed the leaders
of several government institutions, replacing them with loyalists.
As of 5 p.m. local time, Mr. Wickremesinghe
remained in office at Temple Trees — the official state residence of the prime
minister — where he briefed diplomats from the United States, the United
Kingdom and more on the political developments.
Addressing a news briefing earlier in the
day, he pledged to leave office if it was proved that he did not hold the
majority in the house. The dispute could be resolved peacefully in Parliament,
and there was no need to plunge the country into political crisis, Mr. Wickremesinghe
said.
But frontliners in Mr. Rajapaksa’s party have
warned Mr. Wickremesinghe that they will give him until Sunday morning to leave
the official prime ministerial residence unless he wanted the public to “force
him out.”
To clinch a majority in Parliament, Mr.
Sirisena needs to secure just over half of the 225 seats in the house to form a
new government with Mr. Rajapaksa’s party. A tally on Saturday suggested they
held only 98 seats.
But Namal Rajapaksa, a lawmaker and the son
of the former president, said by telephone that the numbers were in their
favor.
“Of course we have more than 130 seats in
Parliament, definitely,” Namal Rajapaksa said. “We are already working on our
policies to stabilize the economy and provide social stability.”
Mr. Sirisena was a cabinet member in Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s government until he broke from the ruling party to form a coalition
with Mr. Wickremesinghe to contest the 2015 elections, which they won by a slim
majority.
In the run-up to elections, the coalition
promised to investigate alleged war crimes and corruption during the tenure of
Mr. Rajapaksa, who simultaneously served as president and finance minister,
among other cabinet positions, while his three brothers served as the defense
secretary and ministers of economy and ports.
But those investigations lagged under the
unity government. The Rajapaksa family denies any wrongdoing, painting the
allegations as lies perpetrated by their political opponents.
Acrimonious divisions ultimately doomed the
unity government, which was consumed by bitter infighting between Mr. Sirisena
and Mr. Wickremesinghe. Sri Lankans have grown unhappy with the economy
stagnating and social unrest breaking out at times, including outbursts of
sectarian violence.
Whether Mr. Sirisena will face popular backlash
remains to be seen. Mr. Rajapaksa is very popular in the country, but this is
the first time since Sri Lanka earned independence from Britain that power has
been handed over unconstitutionally, observers say.
“The president has no authority to remove the
prime minister,” Jayadeva Uyangoda, a retired university academic and political
scientist explained. “The removal of the prime minister is a function of
Parliament, unless he resigns.”
Namal Rajapaksa, the son of the former
president, remained confident, adding that the majority of Sri Lankans
supported the new government because the previous cabinet had failed to govern
effectively.
“If you talk to people who voted for the
unity government, they all agree that there is not unity in the unity
government,” he said. “But now you will have stability with the new government.
People can oppose us, but at the end of the day, we will achieve a solution for
the economic and social instability.”
Mr. Sirisena’s party may now join with Mr.
Rajapaksa’s party, Namal Rajapaksa said, giving the family a good shot at
reclaiming power in presidential elections next year.
Dharisha Bastians reported from Colombo, and
Maria Abi-Habib from Lahore, Pakistan.
