Rare unity in House augurs well for Lanka

The rare unity among political parties within the House was well portrayed this morning when the seventh Parliament met for its inaugural session and elected the Speaker.

Hambantota district Parliamentarian and a senior Sri Lanka Freedom Party stalwart Chamal Rajapaksa was elected to the post unanimously.

While former Ports and Aviation Minister Chamal Rajapaksa’s name was proposed by newly appointed Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, it was seconded by United National Party (UNP) Deputy Leader and Gampaha district Parliamentarian Karu Jayasuriya.

In the same spirit of unity the proposal by former Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake of the name of UPFA Puttalam district member Priyankara Jayaratne as Deputy Speaker, which he held in the previous parliament as well, was seconded by UNP’s John Amaratunga.

Jaffna UPFA MP Chandrakumar Murugesu was appointed the Deputy Chairman of Committees.

Following these appointment, Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa confirmed UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.

Earlier there were moves by certain parties to demand a secret ballot to choose the Leader of the Opposition for the new Parliament. However no such moves were visible when the House met this morning.

Many observers say that if this same unity, unlike during the last Parliament where the election of a Speaker created near havoc, is carried forward during the other activities within the House, Sri Lanka may have a chance of experiencing a better and brighter future.