Sri Lanka president summons Parliament after PM turmoil
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s president has summoned Parliament to meet next week as pressure grows for him to resolve the turmoil set off when he sacked the Cabinet last week, his chosen prime minister said Thursday.
President Maithripala Sirisena made the decision a day after meeting with Parliament Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, who previously warned of possible violence if lawmakers were not summoned immediately.
On Friday, Sirisena had dismissed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet, later telling reporters he acted in part because Wickremesinghe and a Cabinet colleague were behind an alleged assassination plot against him. Details of the alleged plot have not been disclosed and Wickremesinghe denies the accusation.
Sirisena had replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa and suspended Parliament until Nov. 16 in an apparent attempt to give Rajapaksa time to muster enough support to survive any no-confidence vote.