Colombo: Sri Lanka’s main opposition party has issued a no-confidence declaration aiming at ousting Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Cabinet and blaming them for failing in their constitutional duty to provide decent living standards amid the island nation’s worst economic crisis in memory.
A group from United People’s Force party, led by leader Sajith Premadasa, delivered the motion on Tuesday demanding the no-confidence parliamentary vote to Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.
The move came amid countrywide protests demanding the resignation of Rajapaksa and his younger brother, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who the demonstrators hold responsible for the economic crisis.
A majority vote in the 225-member Parliament would be needed to remove Rajapaksa and the Cabinet from power.