Maithripala Sirisena is likely to agree to reconvene Sri Lankan Parliament next week, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya’s office said on Wednesday, amid indications that a compromise is being worked out to avoid a showdown between the president and ousted premier Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Speaker Jayasuriya held emergency talks with President Sirisena this evening to convince him on the need to reconvene Parliament to try and end the current political impasse over the sacking of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe on last Friday.
The meeting came after Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya on Wednesday refused to endorse the president’s dismissal of Wickremesinghe for former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The attorney general refused to give an opinion to Jayasuriya over the sacking of Wickremesinghe, saying it would be “deemed inappropriate”. Some political experts have opined that it is clear sign that the attorney general considers the move as unconstitutional.
Wickremesinghe’s sacking was carried out by Sirisena inspite of the 19th amendment to the Constitution which had stripped President’s powers to sack a Prime Minister.
Immediately after Rajapaksa’s appointment Sirisena suspended Parliament until November 16, which experts said was meant to buy time to engineer crossovers from Wickremesinghe’s side to Rajapaksa in the 225-member Parliament to reach the 113 working majority mark.
