Lanka’s new cabinet to be sworn in on May 1

The new cabinet of Sri Lanka’s unity government will be sworn in on May 1, President Maithripala Sirisena announced yesterday, weeks after he had suspended parliament in the backdrop of the ongoing political turmoil in the country, local media reported. The unity government of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) was thrown into a crisis after former president Mahinda Rajapakse’s new party pulled off a stunning victory in February’s local elections seen as a referendum on the alliance. Early this month, Sirisena was forced to face a vote of no-confidence in parliament moved by the Joint Opposition which has the backing of Rajapakse. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe won the vote convincingly even after some of the unity government’s Sirisena loyalists voted for his ouster - among them were six ministers. Wickremesinghe’s party urged that those who voted against him need sacking from the government. Acting ministers were appointed to cover for six of them after they resigned. Sirisena, on April 12, made the decision to prorogue parliament by virtue of the powers vested in him by the constitution. A group of 16 Sirisena loyalists is to sit in parliament as a separate opposition group. Buoyed by the positive outcome of the local polls, the Rajapakse camp now pushes for a snap parliamentary election ahead of the scheduled August 2020. However the next election due is the presidential election which must be called by November 2019. The country had plunged into a political crisis after the unity government’s parties lost the local council elections to Rajapakse’s Sri Lanka People’s Front.