The Sri Lankan Parliament passed a no confidence motion against the government again on the 16th, and the nomination of Prime Minister Rajapaksa was rejected. Two days ago, the Parliament had already held a vote on the no confidence motion, but it was questioned because of the controversial procedure.

Since the dissolution of the government at the end of last month, Sri Lanka has been in a political crisis for three weeks, and the plot of the Prime Minister's "difficult labor" has become more and more confusing.

News Facts

The political instability in Sri Lanka began with a "big move" by President Sirisena.

On October 26, Sirisena announced the dissolution of the government, the removal of the then Prime Minister Vikle Masingha, and the appointment of former President Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister; On the 9th of this month, Silisena signed a communiqu é announcing the dissolution of the Parliament, and requested that parliamentary elections be held in advance on January 5th, 2019.

Some Sri Lankan political parties believe that according to the constitutional amendment, Silisena has no right to dissolve the parliament and appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka issued a temporary order on the 13th to suspend the communiqu é of dissolution of parliament signed by Silisena.

The Sri Lankan Parliament resumed its session on the 14th, and the Speaker Jayasuriya presided over the vote on the no confidence motion against Rajapaksa. The result showed that 122 of the 225 members signed the no confidence motion, believing that Silisena's appointment was unconstitutional.

According to previous media reports, Silisena has expressed no objection to the parliament holding a new vote of no confidence on the new Prime Minister nominated by him, will accept the new ruling, and promises not to dissolve the parliament again.

[In depth analysis]

Sri Lanka's political arena is currently in a situation of "not knowing who to listen to". Due to the dispute over whether it is unconstitutional to dissolve the government before the President, Vikle Masingha has always insisted that he is still the Prime Minister.

The evolution of the situation in Sri Lanka has led to the current situation. Most of the disputes revolve around the constitutional amendment, and the opposing sides hold their own words. According to the local media, one of the details is that there are two versions of the constitutional amendment, namely the Sinhalese version and the English version, which are different in content. According to the news from the president, according to the Sinhalese text, the president has the right to remove the prime minister and dissolve the parliament; But the English text does not specify whether the president has such power.

[Instant comment]

The recent political turmoil in Sri Lanka stems from the President's desire to replace the Prime Minister. President Sirisena has publicly expressed his hostile feelings against Vikle Masingha, saying that he "cannot live with him for even an hour".

If the newly nominated Prime Minister fails to pass the parliamentary vote, Wickremesingha will once again hold the position of Prime Minister, and the conflict with Silisena will inevitably deepen.

At present, the dispute between Sri Lanka's "two prime ministers" has affected cabinet members of relevant camps. For foreign-funded enterprises, it has become a problem who should be responsible for problems. Many projects have been put on hold since October 26, waiting for the government to finalize. In fact, Sri Lanka is a country in special need of foreign investment. The current situation not only affects normal enterprise investment, but also damages Sri Lanka's international image.

[Background Link]

In 2015, the United People's Freedom League led by Silisena and the United Nationalist Party led by Vikle Masingha formed a coalition government. However, due to the different governing concepts of the two parties, the differences between them were increasing.

Since this year, the contradiction between the two sides has been deepening. Up to March, the minority parties in the parliament, including the United People's Freedom League, jointly submitted a no confidence motion against Wickremesingha, asking the parliament to impeach the Prime Minister, claiming that his government had failed to perform its duties since taking office.

The new Prime Minister Rajapaksa nominated by Sirisena served as President from November 2005 to January 2015. During his administration, the government army defeated the separatist armed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and ended the 30 year civil war. (Reporter: Tang Lu, Zhu Ruiqing, Ge Chen, Editor: Lin Jing)

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