President decided to reconvene Parliament - PM

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa says the President has decided to reconvene the Parliament on November 05.

Rajapaksa stated this during a discussion held with university lecturers this morning (01).

He stated that the President has decided to cancel the prorogation of Parliament and to convene it on November 5, the scheduled date of the next session.

The President had prorogued the parliament for 11 days, from October 27 to November 16, when the parliament was scheduled to convene on November 05.

The relevant Extraordinary Gazette Notification was also published by the Presidential Secretariat on October 27.

The move came a day after Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as Prime Minister before the President. Prior to that, the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) had decided to withdraw from the national government with the United National Party (UNP).

UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has said his removal is unconstitutional and has demanded he be allowed to prove his parliamentary majority.

However, political parties and foreign powers had urged an earlier session to resolve the crisis.

President Sirisena had informed Speaker Karu Jayasuriya, during a discussion last evening, that necessary measures will be taken to reconvene the parliament and that it would be announced in due course.

The Speaker had called on the President to reconvene the parliament forthwith taking into consideration the current political situation of the country.

Accordingly, the President has responded that he would consider the request of the Speaker and announce his decision in this regard in due course.

Meanwhile, the President has called on the Speaker to accord the necessary privileges and facilities for the new Prime Minister and the government, to which the Speaker has agreed.

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has stated that he will not obstruct the newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa from being allocated the Prime Minister’s seat in the Parliament at the next session.