Colombo [Sri Lanka], April 9 (ANI): Sri Lanka's main opposition party Samagi Jana Balwegaya (SJB) announced that it will move a no-confidence motion against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government if it fails to provide immediate relief to the people of the island nation adversely impacted by the economic crisis.
"We have decided to bring a no confidence motion against Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa as he fails to address the country in connection with economic policies. We have called a meeting with all opposition leaders and will take a final decision on it soon," Sri Lanka Leader of Opposition, Sajith Premadasa told ANI.
Further, he said opposition MPs have also discussed that there should be an end to the Executive Presidency and power should be divided in Sri Lanka between the Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary.
Earlier, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa had said that Sri Lanka must abolish the all-powerful Executive Presidency and strengthen Parliament without paving the way to a similarly dictatorial premiership while ensuring adequate checks and balances.
"For nearly 20 years every leader promised to abolish the Executive Presidency but only strengthened it," Premadasa said in a strongly-worded speech in parliament on Tuesday reminding the Parliamentarians about the necessity to introduce a new electoral system.
It is pertinent to mention that since the introduction of the presidential system in 1978, every election which ensued was fought on the promise to abolish the presidency. However, once elected all presidents chose to ignore the election promise.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan citizens continue to protest against the current government across the country and have raised demands to sack the President and Prime Minister.
Sri Lanka is battling a severe economic crisis with food and fuel scarcity affecting a large number of the people in the island nation. The economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sri Lanka is also facing a foreign exchange shortage, which has, incidentally, affected its capacity to import food and fuel, leading to the power cuts in the country. The shortage of essential goods forced Sri Lanka to seek assistance from friendly countries.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU