Sri Lankan Leaders Fail to End Power Struggle
The three men at the heart of Sri Lanka’s weeks-long power struggle have held direct talks for the first time since the crisis erupted, but their meeting failed to reach a breakthrough, according to officials. President Maithripala Sirisena called for the talks days after several parliamentary votes on a no-confidence motion against his newly-appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa descended into chaos, with angry politicians hurling chilli paste, chairs and books at legislators backing Ranil Wickremesinghe, the deposed leader.
Joined by members of their parties, the president and the two rival prime ministers met on Sunday for more than two hours at the president’s office in the capital, Colombo, but did not appear to shift from their previous positions on the no-confidence vote.
Both Mr Sirisena and Mr Rajapaksa have rejected the outcome of the voice votes, in which 122 legislators in the 225-member House voted against the latter, claiming the speaker had failed to follow proper procedures. Supporters of Mr Wickremesinghe, however, accuse pro-Rajapaksa politicians of disrupting proceedings in a bid to block the votes.
Speaking to reporters after Sunday’s meeting, Lakshman Kiriella, a legislator from Mr Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP), said the party told the president “we can show majority again”, but he “showed no interest”.
Mr Sirisena, in a statement after the meeting, said he would only accept a no-confidence motion if a vote was “taken by name of members or by electronic voting”.
A voice vote, though technically legal, was not acceptable on such an important matter as it lacked transparency, he added.
He also said all parties had agreed that future parliamentary proceedings would be “conducted peacefully”.