by Melani Manel Perera

MPs from the opposition United National Party cross the floor to join the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party. Leaders clash whilst President Rajapakse gains a free hand to deal with the rebels.

Colombo (AsiaNews) – For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, some members of the main opposition party, United National Party (UNP), as well as the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), crossed the floor to join the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).  President Mahinda Rajapakse now has an absolute majority in parliament. The opposition UNP slammed the government for violating the memorandum of understanding the two had signed concerning common political goals such as ending the inter-ethnic conflict in the country’s north-east.

The cabinet reshuffle that followed is the first one President Rajapakse has made since his election in 2005. The 18 UNP and 6 SLMC MPs were sworn in yesterday.

Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said adding the UNP and SLMC defectors to MPs from the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Jantha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) gives the ruling majority 159 seats in the 225-member parliament.

The swearing-in ceremony saw the participation of 51 cabinet ministers, 33 non-cabinet ministers and 19 deputy ministers were sworn yesterday.

President Rajapakse will continue however to hold defence, public security, law and order, religious affairs, finance and planning and nation-building portfolios.

In a symbolic gesture to show their displeasure opposition leaders tore the memorandum of understanding signed with the president’s party on October 23, 2006.

“We shall no longer abide by the memorandum if the president doesn’t need our support” said UNP Chairman Rukman Senanayake.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake went further and accused the president of violating one of the memorandum’s important clauses by offering portfolios to UNP dissidents.

The memorandum was intended to allow both government and opposition parties to vet common strategies to face the country’s main problems like the long conflict with Tamil rebels.

Rajapakse’s party lacked the numbers in parliament to have a majority and needed the opposition to pass any bill or adopt any measure relating to the war, an area where the two main parties have different ideas.

In the past the opposition had expressed support for talks with the Tamil Tigers, but within Rajapakse’s ruling Marxist alliance parties like the JVP always opposed talks with the rebels.

 

• sri
• lanka
• defection
• politics
• parliament
• cabinet
• reshuffle