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Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa Vows to Work With Opposition to Appoint New PM to Avoid “Anarchy”

Media reports suggest that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has contacted SJB leader Sarath Fonseka for the position of PM.

May 12, 2022
Sri Lanka: Rajapaksa Vows to Work With Opposition to Appoint New PM to Avoid “Anarchy”
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa urged citizens and opposition parties to assist in protecting the public and public property.
IMAGE SOURCE: MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed to install a new cabinet under a newly appointed Prime Minister (PM) after consulting with all political parties to ensure that the PM “commands the majority in the Parliament.”

According to the Daily Mirror, Rajapaksa contacted Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) leader Sarath Fonseka to offer the position, provided that he could secure the support of the Parliament. It remains unclear if Fonseka will accept the offer, given that his party’s leader, Sajith Premadasa, rejected the same request from the president just last week. 


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Addressing the nation, Rajapaksa said that the new government will be set up by the end of this week to “prevent the country from falling into anarchy as well as to maintain the affairs of the government that have been halted.” He expressed hope that the new appointments would win back the people’s confidence.

In addition, he reiterated his promise to amend the constitution and reintroduce the 19th Amendment in order to give the cabinet and the new PM the “opportunity to present a new programme and to take the country forward.” The amendment was introduced in 2015 to curb the powers of the president and appoint the Parliament as the supreme decision-making body of the country. However, it was then revoked by Rajapaksa in 2020, when he introduced the 20th amendment, which increased the president’s executive powers. It was criticised for centralising the powers in the President’s hands and creating an imbalance between the legislature, judiciary, and the executive.

Notably, Rajapaksa has also agreed to allow the new PM to appoint a fresh cabinet. In fact, the president named a new cabinet just last month, after all 26 ministers resigned overnight on April 3 in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to appease protesters.

In this regard, Rajapaksa also addressed Monday’s violent clashes between pro- and anti-government protesters that turned violent and left at least eight dead and close to 200 injured. In fact, the clashes led to the further intensification of demonstrations, with protesters burning down the homes of the Rajapaksa and several other current and former SLPP members.

The president condemned the acts of violence, which he said were conducted in an “organised manner throughout the country.” He declared that the “series of murders, assaults, intimidation and destruction of property that followed cannot be justified.

To this end, he announced that the Inspector General of Police had begun investigation into the incident. Furthermore, he declared that security forces had been asked to “strictly enforce the law against the rioters.” In this regard, he urged citizens and opposition parties to assist in “maintaining the state machinery” to protect public and public property.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, 12 protestors were arrested near the Parliament for allegedly damaging public property and “violating the rights” of Members of Parliament. According to Daily Mirror, police stations were instructed to “exercise their maximum legal powers including to open fire on those involved in violent incidents.” Furthermore, the Tamil Guardian reported that the armed forces have been deployed across Colombo after the Ministry of Defence ordered them to “shoot anyone looting public property or causing harm to others.”

However, in an exclusive interview with NDTV, Sri Lankan Secretary to the Defence Ministry General G.D.H. Kamal Gunaratne said that the security forces have been asked to shoot at crowds only as a last resort. He explained the “three step process” of the orders, saying that the security forces have been asked to first “fire warning shots in the air.” Thereafter, police officers would “open fire below the knee level.” He noted that the army would only be brought in if the mob continued to be violent.

Apart from the state of emergency he declared last Friday and the shooting orders announced on Tuesday, the President also announced a nationwide curfew from Monday until Thursday and deployed the military to maintain law and order. However, protests have continued outside the Galle Face Green in Colombo in defiance of the orders.

Tens of thousands of citizens have been protesting for over two months over a spiralling economic and political crisis. A foreign reserve shortage has caused Sri Lanka to default on $51 billion of foreign debt and led to record-high inflation and severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel. Opposition leader Premadasa warned this week that the government could use the unrest as a pretext to establish military rule.