President had caused turmoil by dismissing prime minister and giving job to former leader

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The president of Sri Lanka has agreed to reconvene parliament next week in an attempt to resolve a constitutional crisis that has left it unclear who the country’s lawful prime minister is.

The announcement that Maithripala Sirisena had asked parliament to meet on Monday came from Mahinda Rajapaksa, the country’s former strongman leader whom Sirisena suddenly appointed prime minister on Friday, triggering a week of political turmoil in Colombo.

“[The] president has decided to reconvene the parliament on 5 [November],” Rajapaksa told a televised meeting in the prime minister’s office, which he moved into earlier this week.

Sri Lanka's political crisis: everything you need to know Read more

The assembly was abruptly suspended on Saturday, shortly after Ranil Wickremesinghe, the man dismissed by Sirisena as prime minister, called for an emergency vote to prove he still had the confidence of MPs to remain in the job.

Constitutional lawyers have questioned whether Sirisena had the authority to dismiss Wickremesinghe, unless he had lost the support of a majority of the parliament’s 225 members.

Wickremesinghe, who has remained holed up in the prime ministerial residence since Friday, surrounded by supporters and Buddhist monks, has been demanding parliament be recalled so he can prove his majority.

The UK, the US and the EU have also called for the assembly to resume and decide between Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa.

Following Rajapaksa’s comments, Wickremesinghe tweeted: “The people’s voices have been heard. Parliament will be reconvened on 5 November. Democracy will prevail.”

Both sides have called for street protests in Colombo on Monday to demonstrate their public support.

The country’s speaker had warned of a “bloodbath” if the standoff continued. A security guard for Arjuna Ranatunga, a cabinet minister allied to Wickremesinghe, killed one man and injured two others on Sunday when he opened fire on a crowd that was trying to prevent Ranatunga from entering his office.

The crisis has divided Sri Lanka’s establishment, including its influential clergy. Sources said an MP allied with Rajapaksa, Wasantha Senanayake, was told by one Buddhist leader that the standoff was harming the public good. But another monk he sought out on Thursday commended him for joining Rajapaksa’s government.

Namal Rajapaksa, an MP and the son of the appointed prime minister, said he was confident his father would win a parliament vote. “We always had [a] majority, so will show [it] when we need to,” he said.

Harsha de Silva, a member of Wickremesinghe’s party, also said he believed its numbers were “solid, albeit a few beggars who might still fall prey”.

The Wickremesinghe camp has claimed Rajapaksa is using money borrowed from China and other countries to persuade MPs to defect to his side – an allegation the former president’s allies have called “a grave insult”.

It is unclear if the vote of confidence will take place on Monday. A spokesman for Sirisena, Mahinda Samarasinghe, has previously said the first sitting day could be taken up by an opening ceremony.

The speaker’s office said on Thursday that Rajapaksa would assume the privileges of prime minister during the first sitting. Convening parliament would also force Wickremesinghe to leave the prime ministerial residence, at the risk of not being allowed to return.

Sirisena and Wickremesinghe formed a coalition to oust Rajapaksa from the presidency in 2015. But their coalition of traditionally opposing parties has fractured in the past year. Rajapaksa, a controversial leader accused of overseeing a litany of human rights abuses, has been rebuilding public support.