Blow To China? After Rajapaksa Fails Twice, Wickremsinghe Wins Confidence Motion In Parliament

Ousted Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday (12 November) won a trust vote in the country’s parliament as the majority of legislators, including 14 from opposition Tamil National Alliance, favoured him as their preferred candidate for the post, The Hindu has reported.

The motion, seeking the support of the house members for the ousted prime minister, was moved by Sajith Premdasa, a deputy leader of Wickremesinghe’s United National Party (UNP).

The trust vote was passed with the support of 117 MPs in the 225-member house. After the trust vote, Wickremesinghe pledged to strengthen the country’s provincial councils and vowed to abolish the executive presidency.

The proceedings were not attended by the members of the President Sirisena’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA).

However, the trust vote is unlikely to help in resolving the political impasse currently going on in the country as President Sirisena is adamant on not appointing Wickremesinghe to the prime ministerial post, “even if all 225 legislators” support him.

Earlier, on 26 October, Sirisena had sacked Wickremesinghe from the prime ministerial post and replaced him with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. However, Rajapaksa failed to garner the support of Parliament and has, since then, lost two confidence votes that he refused to accept citing breach of parliamentary procedure as the reason.

The political turmoil in the island nation will have strong bearings on the geopolitical affairs in the region as Rajapaksa is considered close to China, with many infrastructure deals having been concluded in his regime, whereas, Ranil Wickremesinghe after coming to power, restored the balance, by seeking alternative sources of investments, like India and Japan.