Colombo : Sri Lanka’s Joint Opposition on Wednesday moved a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a step that could threaten the country’s unity government.
The motion was handed over to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya by the Joint Opposition and was debated on Wednesday in the Parliament.
The Joint Opposition has accused 68-year-old Wickremesinghe of financial mismanagement and failing to tackle anti-Muslim riots last month in the central Kandy district. Former strongman Wickremesinghe needs 113 votes in the 225-member Parliament to defeat the motion. Speaking at the motion against the prime minister, R Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, stressed on the need to resolve the ethnic conflict which had plagued the island. “I see this is the first step of a plan to bring down the government by going against the mandate received in 2015,” Sampanthan told the Parliament.
Recalling that the government had proposed a constitutional process to resolve the long standing issue, Sampanthan appealed to the senior members of the Joint Opposition to come together in the task of bringing permanent peace and unity.
“We can become the economic hub in the Indian Ocean if we have lasting peace in the country,” Sampanthan said.