SL: New PM struggles to form unity government
Senior opposition lawmaker Harsha de Silva publicly rejected an overture to take charge of the finance ministry
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s new prime minister struggled on Friday to forge a unity government and forestall an imminent economic collapse as opposition lawmakers refused to join his cabinet and demanded fresh elections.
Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in late on Thursday to navigate his country through the worst downturn in its history as an independent nation, with months of shortages and blackouts inflaming public anger.
The 73-year-old insists he has enough support to govern and approached several legislators to join him, but three opposition parties have already said his premiership lacks legitimacy.
Senior opposition lawmaker Harsha de Silva publicly rejected an overture to take charge of the finance ministry and said he would instead push for the government’s resignation. De Silva said he was joining “the people’s struggle” to topple President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and would not support any political settlement that left the leader in place.
De Silva is a member of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), the largest single opposition grouping in parliament, which had appeared ready to split over the question of whether to support Wickremesinghe.
But the head of the possible splinter faction, Harin Fernando,
said on Friday he had returned to the fold. “I will not support Wickremesinghe’s government,” Fernando told AFP.
Two smaller parties have also signalled they will not join any unity government.
The Tamil National Alliance said Rajapaksa’s administration had “completely lost legitimacy” with the appointment of Wickremesinghe, a five-time former prime minister who most recently held office in 2019.
The leftist People’s Liberation Front (JVP) meanwhile said new national elections were the only way out of the current impasse. “We can’t solve the economic crisis by having an illegitimate government,” JVP leader Anura Dissanayake told reporters in Colombo. “We demand fresh elections.”
However, the cash-strapped government is unlikely to be able to afford polls, or even print ballots, at a time when a national paper shortage forced schools to postpone exams.
Parliamentary elections are not due until August 2025.
Lawmaker was lynched, forensic report says
A Sri Lankan lawmaker who shot dead an anti-government protester this week was later lynched by a mob, a forensic report showed on Friday, contradicting a police report that he died by suicide.
Amarakeerthi Athukorala opened fire on people blocking his car’s path in the town of Nittambuwa on Monday. Police said Athukorala had tried to take refuge in a building and shot himself after being surrounded by about 5,000 people.
“The MP’s death was due to multiple injuries, fractures and internal bleeding, but he had no gunshot wounds,” the Lankadeepa newspaper said, quoting the autopsy report.