With the aim of expediting the General Election the opposition had met at the Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa’s residence and held discussions and decided to aggravate the dispute between the President and the Prime Minister to achieve their goal.
Accordingly, they have decided to ask for a debate in parliament regarding the power struggle between the President, Prime Minister and the government.
To meet this aim, they also intend to obtain the support of the Muslim Ministers who resigned recently and their parties.
As the issue of selecting a presidential candidate from the UPFA has also been settled, all MPs had agreed to the move.
Presidential candidate Chamal: SLPP candidates name in September
While Founder of the SLPP Basil Rajapaksa had made up his mind to field Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the Presidential candidate based on his popularity, several MPs including Vasudeva Nanayakkara, and Dilan Perera are of the view that Chamal Rajapaksa should be the presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, a prominent SLPP member told Sri Lanka Mirror that the name of the SLPP presidential candidate would be revealed at the party’s first convention in September.
He said it would be revealed at the party convention whether the next presidential candidate would be a Rajapaksa member or someone else.
However, he said the SLPP presidential candidate would definitely not be Maithripala Sirisena.
Proposal to dissolve parliament in July
Meanwhile, the Aruna newspaper had reported that a group of SLFP members were in discussion with the aim of bringing in a proposal to dissolve parliament in July.
As a parliamentary 2/3rd majority is required to dissolve parliament, they intend to obtain the support of a group of UNP members as well.
It is also reported that talks are underway with a prominent UNP backbencher who is closely associated with a prominent SLFP member.
JVP support to topple
The SLFP prominent member said that if a general election is called, they would be able to obtain the same number of seats obtained by the UNP.
He noted that if the UNP supports the proposal to dissolve parliament, they could easily obtain the 2/3rd majority with the support of the Joint Opposition and JVP.
He further stated that the President had sought the views of the Chief Justice regarding a referendum on holding a general election prior to its scheduled date,.
According to the 19th Amendment, parliament cannot be dissolved until March next year.
President obtained AG advice?
However, the Coordinator of the Attorney General’s Department Attorney Nishara Jayaratne had refused to comment on the matter, Aruna reported.
Meanwhile, upon inquiry, President’s Counsel Ali Sabri said that a seven member Supreme Court group had stated that according to the Constitution, the President cannot call a general election at this point.
He pointed out that a general election could be staged only after presenting an Act to parliament and having it revised.
(Mirror)