Desk Report
Published: 18 May 2022, 09:59 am
Gotabaya Rajapaksa || Photo: Collected
A move by Sri Lanka’s opposition parties to force a
no-confidence motion against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in parliament has
been blocked by the ruling party, an official said.
M A Sumanthiran, a legislator from the opposition Tamil
National Alliance, Tuesday, proposed that parliament bypass procedure and
take up the motion against Rajapaksa urgently.
But the ruling party defeated the motion with a 119-68 vote.
However, the motion can be taken up for debate later as a
normal proposal, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena said.
The opposition move was prompted by growing dissent against
the president due to the current economic crisis – the worst the island nation
has faced since independence from the British in 1948 – which has resulted in
fuel, food, and medicine shortages.
The parliamentary motion accused Rajapaksa of being
responsible for the economic crisis by introducing untimely tax cuts and
prohibiting the use of chemical fertilizers, which resulted in crop failures.
It also said the president mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic,
using it for militarisation, promotion of non-scientific solutions, and making unfavourable
deals on vaccines.
“The objective of getting the motion passed on an urgent
basis was to show that the president no longer enjoys the confidence of the
parliament,” opposition member Mujibar Rahuman said.