{"id":61718,"date":"2018-11-16T06:24:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T10:24:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61718"},"modified":"2018-11-16T06:24:22","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T10:24:22","slug":"a-bloodless-coup-in-sri-lanka-is-going-awry-with-the-schemes-of-maithripala-sirisena-blowing-up-in-his-face-the-economist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=61718","title":{"rendered":"A \u201cbloodless coup\u201d in Sri Lanka is Going Awry With The Schemes of Maithripala Sirisena Blowing Up In His Face \u2013 \u201cThe Economist\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nTHE SCHEMES of Maithripala Sirisena, the president of Sri Lanka, are blowing up in his face. On November 13th the Supreme Court suspended his order dissolving parliament and calling a snap general election. The next day the reinstated parliament raucously approved a motion of no confidence against the government that the president had only just installed. It was a stinging rebuke to Mr Sirisena, who had stretched the constitution in his attempt to replace a supposed ally, Ranil Wickremesinghe , with a supposed enemy, Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The president has put Sri Lanka in a constitutional quandary. It now has no clear government. Mr Rajapaksa\u2019s team have occupied all the ministries, but Mr Wickremesinghe\u2019s insists that it remains the legitimate cabinet. \u201cWe went from one prime minister to two prime ministers to no prime minister in a span of 20 days,\u201d says Thishya Weragoda, a bemused lawyer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The crisis began on October 26th, when Mr Sirisena abruptly sacked Mr Wickremesinghe\u2019s government\u2014a power the constitution reserves for parliament, under an amendment Mr Sirisena himself ushered into law. The president denounced Mr Wickremesinghe as arrogant and stubborn. He replaced him with Mr Rajapaksa, a populist former president in whose cabinet Mr Sirisena had served from 2005 to 2014, before allying with Mr Wickremesinghe to defeat Mr Rajapaksa in the presidential election the following year. Mr Sirisena later accused Mr Rajapaksa of corruption and even of plotting to kill him.
\nMr Sirisena now insists that Mr Rajapaksa is the best candidate for prime minister. To avoid learning parliament\u2019s view, he suspended it for three weeks. Meanwhile, he swore in a new cabinet. But Mr Wickremesinghe refused to give way, calling his sacking illegal. The bureaucracy fell into near paralysis.<\/p>\n

In response to growing pressure, Mr Sirisena grudgingly called for the legislature to convene on November 14th. He gambled on gaining the required 113 votes in the 225-seat parliament to validate Mr Rajapaksa\u2019s appointment. MPs claim they were offered cabinet portfolios and millions of dollars to support the new order. Even so the numbers looked to be falling well short. So on November 9th Mr Sirisena dissolved parliament altogether and announced a snap election\u2014again, a move that appeared to exceed his constitutional authority.<\/p>\n

Mr Wickremesinghe\u2019s backers complained to the Supreme Court. After two days of hearings, the three-judge bench\u2014including the chief justice recently appointed by Mr Sirisena\u2014suspended the presidential decree dissolving parliament. The ruling applies until December 7th, when the court will take up the case again.
\nThat led to chaotic scenes in parliament. Mr Sirisena did not turn up to deliver the president\u2019s customary statement at a re-opening. Mr Rajapaksa took the seat allotted to the prime minister. His supporters disrupted attempts to vote on the no-confidence motion with a show of hands, so 122 MPs signed a letter saying they had voted for it. The speaker notified Mr Sirisena, who declared the vote irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Mr Rajapaksa\u2019s supporters are defiant. Dinesh Gunawardena, an MP, tweeted that they would not accept the decision as \u201cthere was no vote taken\u201d. They argue the speaker is biased. But in a triumphant press conference, Mr Wickremesinghe warned police and public officials not to follow \u201cillegal orders from the purported government that has failed to demonstrate the confidence of the people\u201d. He invited Mr Rajapaksa to propose a fresh vote if he had difficulty accepting the legitimacy of the one that had already taken place.<\/p>\n

Mr Wickremesinghe said his administration will take steps to ensure the government in place before October 26th will continue. How he will do that remains to be seen. Mr Sirisena, angry and defiant, retains nominal control of the army and police while Mr Rajapaksa, sullen and chagrined, enjoys widespread public support. That is the crowning irony: had he simply waited for elections in two years\u2019 time, he would probably have walked into the job.<\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Economist<\/em><\/p>\n

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THE SCHEMES of Maithripala Sirisena, the president of Sri Lanka, are blowing up in his face. On November 13th the Supreme Court suspended his order dissolving parliament and calling a snap general election. The next day the reinstated parliament raucously approved a motion of no confidence against the government that the president had only just …<\/p>\n

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