Sri Lanka grinds to a political halt

Lanka appeared to have ground to a political halt yesterday, with the speaker of parliament saying there was no functioning prime minister or cabinet after a no-confidence vote the previous day.

His comments came after weeks of political turmoil, culminating in chaos in parliament. Parliament passed the no-confidence motion against recently appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. But President Maithripala Sirisena said he could not accept the no-confidence vote as it appeared to have ignored the constitution, parliamentary procedure and tradition.