[Mr. Sirisena saw his power checked for the first time when the court issued its interim order on Tuesday. Parliament is now set to reconvene on Wednesday, and most analysts believe that Mr. Wickremesinghe has the support of a majority of lawmakers and could be reinstated as prime minister.]
By Dharisha Bastians and
Jeffrey Gettleman
COLOMBO,
Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s
Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the president from dissolving Parliament,
raising the possibility that the former prime minister could reclaim the post
after weeks of unnerving political drama.
Sri Lanka has been in crisis since late last
month, when President Maithripala Sirisena abruptly fired Prime Minister Ranil
Wickremesinghe, accusing him of being inept and corrupt. He then swore in a new
prime minister: Mahinda Rajapaksa, a popular former president who has been
accused of human rights abuses. Many lawmakers and government ministers
denounced the move. Protests erupted, and at least one person was killed.
Insisting his firing was unconstitutional,
Mr. Wickremesinghe refused to leave his official residence and demanded that
Parliament be summoned to prove he still had support.
Instead, Mr. Sirisena dissolved Parliament
and called for new elections. Opponents said he had done so because Mr.
Rajapaksa could not assemble a majority. The maneuverings were seen as a back
door way to bring Mr. Rajapaksa and his allies back into power.
Mr. Sirisena saw his power checked for the
first time when the court issued its interim order on Tuesday. Parliament is
now set to reconvene on Wednesday, and most analysts believe that Mr.
Wickremesinghe has the support of a majority of lawmakers and could be
reinstated as prime minister.
Mr. Wickremesinghe is not especially popular;
his government has been roundly criticized for getting little done. But many
Sri Lankans have been upset about the way he was pushed out.
“This is probably the most important order
the Supreme Court has delivered in its history,” said Abraham Sumanthiran, a
lawmaker and senior lawyer who had challenged the dissolution of Parliament.
Some of Mr. Sirisena’s critics said that the
president had strayed so far from the law that his decision to dissolve
Parliament could signal the end of constitutional rule in Sri Lanka.
The court’s order is not final, but the
judges indicated that there was enough merit to block the president’s actions.
More hearings are scheduled for December.
As soon as the decision was announced on
Tuesday, celebrations erupted outside the Supreme Court in central Colombo, the
capital. Supporters of Mr. Wickremesinghe chanted “down with the fake Prime
Minister!” as soldiers and police officers in riot gear stood by.
The court, which heard more than 10 different
petitions against the president’s actions, also blocked the president’s plan to
call snap elections for January. Elections were not expected before 2020,
unless a super majority in Parliament called for them.
Neither Mr. Sirisena nor Mr. Rajapaksa
responded immediately to the court ruling. Mr. Sirisena still has the power to
suspend the Parliament and delay its next meeting.
Namal Rajapaksa, the former president’s son
who is a member of Parliament, said on Twitter that he had “never seen
politicians get so excited” about postponing elections.
Nimal Siripala De Silva, Mr. Rajapaksa’s
transport minister, told reporters late Tuesday that the administration would
demand a larger bench of the Supreme Court hear the cases, since it was an
“important constitutional matter.” The Supreme Court has nine judges; three
were on the panel that made the ruling issued Tuesday.
No major foreign country, including the
United States, has recognized Mr. Sirisena’s new government. Diplomats have
been pushing Mr. Sirisena and Mr. Rajapaksa to allow the Parliament to choose
its own leader.
An island nation off the coast of India, Sri
Lanka recently ended a decades-long civil war. Mr. Rajapaksa has been accused
by human rights investigators of committing war crimes during his presidency,
when army commanders shelled areas where thousands of civilians were seeking
refuge. Many were killed.
In recent years, the country has also fallen
deeply in debt to China; it was forced to turn over control of an important
port to China.
Its close ties to China have alarmed both the
United States and India, which fear China’s growing presence in the region.
Dharisha Bastians reported from Colombo, and
Jeffrey Gettleman from New Delhi.