Even as Sri Lanka Government appoints constitutional reform committee, Opposition plans for move no trust motions
The Hindu
Sri Lanka’s Opposition plans for no trust motions
Sri Lanka's Opposition parties have decided to move no trust motions against the SLPP coalition government in Parliament on Wednesday, even as the embattled government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced the appointment of a Cabinet sub-committee to look into the proposal for a new Constitution.
The main Opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) said they would move a no trust motion against the government while the main Tamil party and the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Party’s (UNP) are to jointly move a no trust motion against beleaguered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, which would imply that the House had lost confidence on the President.
“We will be handing over the no confidence motion tomorrow (Wednesday)," SJB's senior leader Ajith Perera said.
Experts said if the government would be defeated in the SJB motion, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Cabinet would have to resign. The TNA/UNP motion has no legal binding for the President to resign.
“This problem can only be solved if either the President or the Prime Minister resigned. It is up to them to make a decision," former Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.
Under the Article 38 of the Sri Lanka’s Constitution, a president can be removed only if he/she volunteered to resign or through the long process of impeachment.
Over the weekend a flurry of political meetings took place as Mahinda Rajapaksa declined to resign in order to make way for a unity government for an interim period.