ඒකාධිපති ක්රමයක් රටට අවශ්ය නැත
The editorial says the President prorogued Parliament while an impeachment motion against the Chief Justice and a no-confidence motion against the government were pending, while the Chief Justice stays in office despite serious charges. She is holding a referendum on a new constitution without first obtaining Parliament’s approval or publishing a draft, and is using force to block protest. With Parliament shut, the editorial warns, the people’s sovereignty has been taken away and the country is moving towards dictatorship.
සැසි වාරය කල් දෑමීම ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදයට පටහැනියි
The editorial condemns the prorogation of Parliament to evade a no-confidence motion when the opposition had become the majority, likening it to postponing an election in the face of certain defeat and calling it a grave political crime. It criticises the Prime Minister for repeatedly promising debate on 16 to 18 July and denying any plan to prorogue, and urges MPs to stand up for Parliament against the President’s arbitrary act.
අර්බුදය ජයගැනීමට විපක්ෂයට හැකිවේද?
Ivan explains that under parliamentary convention a government that loses its majority should resign, but the President can dissolve Parliament after its first year and prorogue it for two months, powers Premadasa used against impeachment. He expects her to play for time by delaying the no-confidence debate and negotiating through intermediaries, argues that an election would favour a divided government’s opponents, and says a new majority could amend the presidency if two-thirds stood together.
Possible scenarios after no-faith motion
With the political crisis where it is, the need for an all-party government dominates the discussion. The question that comes next is how the PA’s own members will act if the government is defeated on the no-confidence motion.
විශ්වාසභංගය හා ඊට පසු
The editorial says the PA’s fall is inevitable, driven by the call for an all-party government for reform, though S.B. Dissanayake is pushing a UNP-SLFP national government instead. It calculates that even if the JVP and Sihala Urumaya abstain the government could fall with three defections, predicts that the EPDP and CWC would then back any new government, and foresees a showdown in which Parliament, like that against Charles I, could curb the presidency unless the President behaves like D.B. Wijetunga.
A game of switching friends and foes
The PA government is in political uncertainty. With a UNP no-confidence motion gathering momentum it has become suspicious not only of its enemies but of its allies, and appears to have lost the capacity to look at anything calmly or logically.
අධිකරණයේ අර්බුදය ප්රජාතන්ත්රවාදය
Ivan argues that an independent judiciary must protect citizens, not the government, when popular sovereignty is threatened, citing Kuldip Singh’s court under Indira Gandhi. Under Sarath N. Silva the Supreme Court has become the executive’s tool: he packed the bench on the electoral bill, blocked Karu Jayasuriya’s media petitions, reversed the growth of fundamental rights jurisprudence by assigning cases to himself, and dismissed over twenty judicial officers. No reform or ethnic settlement is possible until this is remedied.
Ranil’s dilemma: Party or himself
The government avoided defeat on the budget without finding out who was adding to the four members of Thondaman’s group who had agreed to vote it down, and without uniting its own ranks against a repeat. The instability that produced is the setting for a question about the opposition leader.
රනිල්ගේ අනාගතය
After the failed budget vote, Ivan argues that most UNP MPs now believe the party needs new leadership to defeat the government and form an all-party interim administration, with Karu Jayasuriya as Opposition Leader and Gamini Atukorale as party leader. He traces Wickremesinghe’s weakness to his rapid rise after the assassinations, distrust of seniors and Gamini Dissanayake’s supporters, and soft opposition, and urges him at least to give up the Opposition leadership.
රනිල් විරෝධී කුණාටුව
Ivan gives a detailed account of the UNP revolt against Ranil Wickremesinghe after a plan to defeat the budget, with Thondaman’s four votes and defectors from the People’s Alliance, collapsed at midnight. Thondaman later said he was never asked. The piece follows the group of 23 MPs led by Gamini Atukorale, Karu Jayasuriya and Rajitha Senaratne, their demand that Jayasuriya become Opposition Leader, the seven-member committee Wickremesinghe appointed, and his delay over impeaching the Chief Justice.