Category: Sri Lanka

The new cabinet ministers were chosen among the 159 members of parliament from the National People’s Power (NPP) elected in the November 14 parliamentary election….reports Asian Lite News

Twenty-one cabinet ministers were sworn in before Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Monday morning at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.

Deputy ministers will be sworn in later, it was announced at the event.

After Dissanayake won the September 21 presidential election, he governed with a cabinet composed of Harini Amarasuriya and Vijitha Herath.

The new cabinet ministers were chosen among the 159 members of parliament from the National People’s Power (NPP) elected in the November 14 parliamentary election.

This is the first time a political party has won two-thirds of the majority in parliament since the introduction of the proportional representation system.

Amarasuriya continued to serve as prime minister in the new cabinet, and Herath was re-appointed as minister of foreign affairs, foreign employment and tourism.

Addressing the new cabinet, President Dissanayake said people have voted for the NPP twice, in September and November to change the political and economic trajectory of Sri Lanka, Xinhua news agency reported.

People have placed their trust in the NPP based on their policies and the integrity of party members, and from now on, the people will judge the NPP based on their performance as a government, he said.

Dissanayake said Sri Lankan people have voted for them across ethnic and religious divides and that they are committed to protecting and enhancing the rights of the people.

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The Left-leaning coalition won 159 seats in the 225-member parliament…reports Asian Lite News

Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s leftist coalition registered a landslide victory in Sri Lanka’s snap parliamentary elections, according to official results announced by the country’s election commission.

The Left-leaning coalition won 159 seats in the 225-member parliament, according to the Sri Lanka election commission website as per the final results of the polls that were held on November 14.

Dissanayake, needed a clear majority to fulfil his promises and his National People’s Power (NPP) coalition secured a two-thirds majority in the 225-member parliament, winning 159 seats, whereas, opposition leader Premadasa’s party won 35 seats.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa’s ( the son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa) party the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party won 40 seats and the New Democratic Front (NDF), backed by previous President Ranil Wickremesinghe, won just five seats.

The SLPP won 3 seats, while the ITAK was victorious in 8 seats, the SB registered a win in only one seat. The SLMC won three seats whule the UNP and the DTNA won one seat each.

According to a report by Al Jazeera, Dissanayake has pledged to abolish the country’s executive presidency, a system under which power is largely centralised under the president.

The executive presidency, which first came into existence under President JR Jayawardene in 1978, has been widely criticised in the country for years, but no political party, once in power, has scrapped it until now. The system has in recent years been blamed by critics for the country’s economic and political crises.

SBJ, led by Sajith Premadasa, the son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, had 35 seats. Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi, which represents the Tamil ethnic minority, had seven seats, while New Democratic Front and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna had three seats and two seats, respectively, Al Jazeera reported.

The party, previously held only three seats in the parliament, which led to his decision to dissolve the assembly and call for fresh elections.

Dissanayake won the presidential elections held in September this year. With his coalition holding just three seats in the outgoing parliament, the 55-year-old leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) called snap legislative elections in search of a new mandate.

The parliamentary poll mandate enables Dissnayake to ease punishing austerity measures in the crisis-stricken Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka has been struggling to recover from its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948 following economic mismanagement by successive governments, the COVID-19 pandemic and 2019 Easter bombings.

In 2022, then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to resign after tens of thousands of Sri Lankans took to the streets to protest sky-high inflation and fuel and food shortages.

Rajapaksa’s replacement Wickremesinghe, who finished third in September’s presidential election, oversaw a stabilising of the economy, but his government’s efforts to raise revenue, including by raising electricity bills and income taxes, proved unpopular with the public, Al Jazeera noted.

In the Sri Lankan unicameral parliament all members are elected for a five-year term. But 29 out of 225 seats are decided indirectly through a national list. (ANI)

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Dissanayake, aims to secure a majority in parliament to put forward his policies to revive the island nation from its financial crisis. ..reports Asian Lite News

Voting for the 2024 Parliamentary Election commenced at 7 am on Thursday in Sri Lanka in snap elections called by President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who won the polls this September, local media reported. 

Dissanayake, aims to secure a majority in parliament to put forward his policies to revive the island nation from its financial crisis. 

The independent body, Election Commission of Sri Lanka (ECSL) is overseeing the 10th general polls and the inaugural session of the newly elected Parliament is scheduled for November 21, Daily News reported. 

A total of 8,361 candidates, with 5,015 from 408 recognised political parties and 3,346 from 282 independent groups are vying for selection as representatives of the new Parliament, the Daily News reported. 

All 225 seats in the unicameral parliament are being contested. All members are elected for a five-year term. But 29 out of 225 seats are decided indirectly through a national list. 

The 29 candidates from the national list will be selected out of 516 candidates from 27 recognized political parties and 11 candidates from two independent groups. 

Commissioner General of Election S Saman Sri Rathnayake on November 13 said that the general election could attract much more voters than the presidential election, The Island News outlet reported. 

Of 17,140,354 registered voters, 13,619,916 (79.46 per cent ) exercised their franchise at the presidential election held on September 21, Rathnayake was cited by the organisation. 

During the parliamentary election campaign, President Dissanayake, 55, declared that none of those in the fray, except the National People’s Power (NPP), would be able to poll more votes than they had received in the last presidential election. 

Addressing a campaign rally of the NPP on November 11, President Dissanayake said that Sri Lanka will be transformed into a country free of poverty by his government. 

He said that he and his government “will make every effort to turn around the country from its current state into a developed nation by transforming the victory given by the citizens.” 

He further said that once the NPP government is formed after the Parliamentary Election, a Cabinet will be set up with less than 25 ministers and a smaller group to assist them in order to begin the work to build and develop the country, the Daily News reported. 

According to a report by Al Jazeera, Dissanayake has pledged to abolish the country’s executive presidency, a system under which power is largely centralised under the president. 

The executive presidency, which first came into existence under President JR Jayawardene in 1978, has been widely criticised in the country for years, but no political party, once in power, has scrapped it until now. The system has in recent years been blamed by critics for the country’s economic and political crises. 

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted in 2022 with the country facing high inflation as well as shortages of food and fuel. After him, Ranil Wickremesinghe as President managed to negotiate a bailout package worth SUD 2.9 billion with the International Monetary Fund. 

Meanwhile in this elections, apart from NPP, contestants include the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) and Ranil Wickremesinghe-backed New Democratic Front (NDF). 

The counting of votes is expected to start soon after the closing of polls at 4 pm today. (ANI) 

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This would be the first major test of the popularity of the ruling party, National People’s Power, led by President Dissanayake…reports Asian Lite News

Voting in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary poll started on Thursday to elect 225 members to the Parliament with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake seeking a majority.

President Dissanayake is seeking a majority to govern the sovereign debt-defaulted nation amid calls for a new political culture without corruption and misappropriation of public funds.

This would be the first major test of the popularity of the ruling party, National People’s Power, led by President Dissanayake

Samagi Jana Sandanaya led by Sajith Premadasa, the Sri Lanka Podujana Party of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the New Democratic Front made up breakaway legislators backing former President Ranil Wickremesinghe and minority parties in the North are seeking seats.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the outgoing President who lost to Dissanayake in last month’s presidential election, is not contesting a parliamentary election for the first time since 1977.

The Rajapaksa brothers — Mahinda, Gotabaya, Chamal, and Basil — will not contest the parliamentary election after decades-long representation.

Scores of ministers and deputies from the past regime have opted out of the race.

President Dissanayake, who was elected on September 21, has called for a strong Parliament mandate for him to eliminate corruption and punish the past leaders who would be proven to have misappropriated public funds.

The polls will see the election of 196 members through voting in 22 electoral districts and 29 members through the national list, according to the number of total votes political parties and independent groups get in the election.

The voting started at 7 a.m. local time and will go until 4 p.m. More than 17.1 million voters are eligible to cast their votes.

The new Parliament will be convened on November 21.

The elected parliamentarians are expected to be declared by November 15 (Friday) if the counting process goes smoothly, Election Commission officials have said.

This will be the first parliamentary election since Sri Lanka plunged into an economic crisis when the island nation declared sovereign default in mid-April 2022, its first since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. Almost civil-war-like conditions and months of public protests led to the fleeing of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

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The Ministry of Education has announced that all schools across the country would be closed on Wednesday and Thursday due to the parliamentary election….reports Asian Lite News

About 90,000 police and security force personnel have been deployed to provide security for the parliamentary election scheduled for Thursday, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

Police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa told the media that these security personnel have been deployed from Tuesday to ensure a free and fair election and they have hitherto not received complaints of serious instances of election-related violence.

Thalduwa said they have removed 1.36 million illegal election posters by Monday midnight using 1,500 labourers, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Ministry of Education has announced that all schools across the country would be closed on Wednesday and Thursday due to the parliamentary election.

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The Election Commission added that postal voting would continue on November 1 and 4…reports Asian Lite News

Postal voting for Sri Lanka’s upcoming parliamentary election on November 14 began on Wednesday across polling centres nationwide.

The Election Commission announced that postal voting would be held at designated government institutions, including police stations, district secretariats and district election offices.

The Election Commission added that postal voting would continue on November 1 and 4, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sri Lanka only allows postal voting for government employees. According to Election Commission Chairman Ratnayake, the commission received 759,210 applications for postal voting, with 20,551 applications rejected.

Earlier last month, Sri Lanka voted to elect President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power to office. The island will vote on November 14 to elect 225 Parliamentarians, necessitated by the dissolution of the Parliament eleven months ahead of schedule.

Last week, Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) won the Elpitiya local government election, securing 15 of the 28 available seats, according to the Election Commission.

The NPP garnered 17,295 of the 36,305 valid votes cast. The Samagi Jana Balavegaya, led by Sajith Premadasa, Dissanayake’s main competitor in the September 21 presidential election, came in second, winning six seats with 7,924 votes.

Sri Lanka’s parliament consists of 225 members, with 196 elected through direct votes and the remaining 29 appointed via the national list, based on the proportion of votes each political party or independent group secures in the parliamentary election.

The country last held its parliamentary election in 2020.

After emerging victorious in recent presidential elections, NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in his capacity as the executive President, dissolved the Parliament eleven months in advance, paving the way for the parliamentary election in November.

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