Sri Lanka elections

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena said that he decided to dissolve Parliament and call fresh elections to avoid possible violence in Parliament in the event a vote was taken to decide on who commands the majority support to become prime minister.

The crisis began on October 26 when Sirisena sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and appointed former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place. He has called elections for January 5.