Sri Lanka's president dissolves parliament

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Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved the parliament late Friday amid a political crisis which erupted in the island nation on October 26, local media reported.

Sirisena signed a special gazette notification, dissolving the parliament from Saturday at 12:00 a.m. local time (1830 GMT Friday), the reports said.

Sri Lanka has been facing political turmoil since October 26, when President Sirisena dissolved his cabinet and sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and appointed former president Mahinda Rajapakse to the post.

Wickremesinghe, who called his sudden dismissal illegal, has urged the parliament to convene immediately to prove his majority in the 225-member unicameral chamber.

President Sirisena suspended the parliament till November 14.

After the parliament was dissolved, the country's largest single party said Saturday that it would mount a legal challenge against President Maithripala Sirisena's shock sacking of the legislature.

"We will go to the courts," Mangala Samaraweera from the United National Party (UNP) told reporters in Colombo. "We will fight in the courts, we will fight in parliament and we will fight at the polls."

(Cover: Sri Lanka's newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Maithripala Sirisena talk during a rally near the parliament in Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 5, 2018 /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency