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Speaker rules Government has no majority in Parliament
14 Nov, 2018
Speaker Karu Jayasuriya ruled today that the Government did not have the majority in Parliament.
He gave the ruling after a no-confidence motion on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was taken for a vote when Parliament began sessions today.
The Speaker calculated the votes based on a ‘voice vote’ as he could not have the vote by name as Government Parliamentarians disrupted the proceedings.
When proceedings began the Speaker made a statement and then Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran proposed that the standing orders of Parliament be suspended and the rest of the days proceedings to continue.
The Speaker then called for a vote to back Sumanthiran?s proposal and the proposal received majority support, the Speaker?s office said.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake then tabled the no-confidence motion against the Government and asked that the vote on it be taken today.
Following a division on the proposal, the Speaker ruled that the vote on the?no-confidence motion against the Government be taken today.
A majority of the MPs voted in support of the no-confidence motion.
United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa later told reporters that the Government clearly lost the floor test.
He said that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa must now step down as he does not have majority support in Parliament. (Colombo Gazette)
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