Rajapaksa calls for snap polls in inaugural statement as new PM

The constitutional crisis gripping Sri Lanka since President Maithripala Sirisena’s shock dismissal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe worsened on Sunday when newly-appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa called for snap parliamentary elections. This announcement came hours after Sri Lanka’s parliamentary Speaker refused to endorse Mr Wickremesinghe’s sacking.

In the first public statement by the former strongman since his appointment, Mr Rajapaksa said, “The primary objective of the political party leaders and parliamentarians who have joined me is to immediately hold the provincial council elections that had been postponed continuously and also to call a parliamentary election as soon as possible so as to give the people the opportunity to vote for a programme that will bring the country out of the encompassing economic, political and social crisis.” Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had, earlier on Saunday, backed Mr Wickremesinghe’s request to retain his privileges and security until another candidate could prove a majority, saying it was “democratic and fair.” He had also warned the President that shuttering Parliament risked “serious and undesirable consequences for the country”.

Violence, in fact, erupted in Colombo on Sunday in which with a man was shot dead and two others injured. Police said the bodyguards of a Sri Lankan Cabinet minister allied to Mr Wickremesinghe fired live rounds inside a government ministry as a mob loyal to President Sirisena besieged the minister’s office. Three people were injured but a 34-year-old man died shortly after.