“I will give an opportunity to the new government and the new PM to launch a new program to take the country forward,” he said in a televised address, adding that once stability is restored, he will relinquish his executive powers to all political parties. Will discuss about curbing. ,
Gotabaya Rajapaksa earlier extended a nationwide curfew until Thursday morning after government supporters launched attacks on Monday on protesters who have called for their expulsion in the city of Colombo for weeks. Rajapaksa’s opponents then attacked lawmakers from the ruling party and burned some of their houses, effectively hiding prominent members of the family.
his brother Mahinda Rajapakse No one left the government this year to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund and creditors on $8.6 billion in debt, leaving the prime minister’s post to dissolve the cabinet. A deal is necessary to stabilize the country’s finances and help the government provide essential goods to the island nation’s 22 million people.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa is refusing to step down, and the opposition has rejected his proposals for a unity government without constitutional changes that would curtail the powers of the presidency.
Jehan Pereira, executive director of the National Peace Council in Colombo, said of the president, “He needs to give the country a deadline as to what will happen.” “It’s one way he can redeem himself as a politician before things get worse.”
Here’s what could happen next:
1. President is impeached
Removal of the President is difficult and time-consuming under the Sri Lankan Constitution. First a resolution must be passed by a two-thirds parliament explaining why the president is unfit for office, then it must be investigated by the Supreme Court, and then if the judges agree with the findings, the lawmakers vote again. need to.
Officials from the ruling Sri Lanka People’s Front party say they still have a majority in parliament, and last week they proved they had the numbers in the vote for a new deputy speaker. It is not clear whether the violence, which led to attacks on the homes of more than two dozen MPs and former ministers linked to Rajapaksa and the death of a ruling party legislator, changed that equation at all.
2. President forms unity government with the opposition
Now that his brother is gone as prime minister, Gotabaya Rajapakse Another proposal has been given to the opposition to form an all-party government. The main opposition parties have consistently rejected his proposal, as the president would still retain major powers.
Influential Buddhist clergy and Sri Lanka’s Bar Council proposed an interim government that would run the country for 18 months while lawmakers made constitutional amendments to curb the president’s powers. But any government that does not have widespread support is likely to be unstable.
3. President dissolves parliament, conducts fresh elections
The Constitution does not allow the President to dissolve Parliament in the middle of his five-year term, which is not until February 2023. But it allows Parliament to request dissolution before that by passing a resolution.
While some opposition leaders have offered this option in recent days, the election will also be costly and time-consuming. And even if the opposition wins, Gotabaya Rajapaska will retain major powers as president. He has the power to appoint a prime minister, who in his opinion commands the majority of parliament, and will have a greater role in the naming and dismissal of cabinet ministers. He can also assign himself to the portfolio of a ministry.
This is why the opposition has introduced a bill to curtail the powers of the presidency, instead of emphasizing on elections. The previous cabinet under Mahinda Rajapaksa also gave impetus to the writing of a new bill to curb the post of working president.
While an election could potentially give the opposition a two-thirds majority, that would require changing the constitution, which could require the support of a referendum and would likely be tied to the Supreme Court – all of which could drag on for months.
4. Resignation of the President, fled the country
This is what the protesters are expecting with the slogans of “Go Home Gotta” and if violence spreads then it cannot be ruled out. If the President resigns, whoever becomes Prime Minister will take over with the Speaker of the House next in line.
Parliament then has one month to elect his replacement by an absolute majority through secret ballot according to the Constitution. Any MLA shall be eligible, including an outsider who takes a place in the party list before the vote. The new president will hold office for the remainder of the term, which ends in 2024.
Nishan de Mel, executive director of Verite Research, said Gotabaya Rajapaksa has three main options: resignation, impeachment or a settlement that involves curtailing the president’s powers. “He is opposing all three options,” de Mel said.
5. Military coup
While Sri Lanka has a history of authoritarian rule, if there were a coup it would be to help Rajapaksa. The brothers have run Sri Lanka for 13 of the last 17 years, often with an iron fist. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is widely credited with ending 26 years of separatist conflict with ethnic Tamil rebels, and has appointed more than two dozen serving or retired military officers to key positions.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s top aides include Sri Lankan army chief General Shavendra Silva, who has been cleared by the US on charges of war crimes committed during the final phase of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and Kamal Gunaratne, Secretary to the Defense Minister. Are included. Who stands in charge of similar actions. Both men have denied wrongdoing.
Silva has told foreign diplomats that Sri Lanka’s military will uphold the constitution and is “ready to provide security and protection to the state as required.”
For now, Rajapaksa has given the military the right to detain people without warrant for 24 hours under a state of emergency, while searches of personal property can be carried out.
“In a country where we don’t have a prime minister and a cabinet and the emergency rule gives broad powers to an executive with extensive ties to the military, that combination is extremely dynamic,” said Colombo-based senior researcher Bhavani Fonseca. Center for Policy Alternatives. “It could lead to scenarios that Sri Lanka haven’t even seen with the first civil war.”