SRI LANKA: SRI LANKA'S NEW GOVERNMENT NARROWLY LOST ITS FIRST TEST IN PARLIAMENT TO THE OPPOSITION

Record ID: 648473

  • Title: SRI LANKA: SRI LANKA'S NEW GOVERNMENT NARROWLY LOST ITS FIRST TEST IN PARLIAMENT TO THE OPPOSITION
  • Date: 22nd April 2004
  • Summary: (U2) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (APRIL 22, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. TV PARLIAMENTARY CHAMBER 0.06 2. TV OF SESSION OPENING (2 SHOTS) 0.25 3. TV TWO SIDES ARGUING ON PROCEDURE (2 SHOTS) 0.47 4. TV VARIOUS OF VOTING (4 SHOTS) 1.22 5. TV COUNTING OF VOTES (2 SHOTS) 1.42 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Reuters ID: LVAE9IBEXUJD9Z8C26BEUTU9HM53
  • Story Text: Sri Lanka's new government narrowly lost its first
    test in parliament to the opposition raising questions on
    whether it has enough power to push ahead with stalled
    peace talks.



    After more than nine hours of acrimonious wrangling,
    the opposition's candidate was elected as speaker of
    parliament on Thursday (April 22) but by a razor-thin
    margin of just one vote, highlighting the deep ethnic
    divisions in the Indian Ocean island and the House.

    The vote was an important test of strength for
    President Chandrika Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom
    Alliance, which was left seven seats short of a majority
    after elections this month but still pledged aggressive
    constitutional reforms.

    Three ballots were required. The first ended in
    deadlock and the second in pandemonium after government MPs
    sat on the ballot box while opposition members tried to
    cast their votes.

    The final vote was 110-109 for the opposition
    candidate, former Justice Minister W.J.M. Lokubandara, with
    six abstentions. The government had fielded a veteran
    Communist Party leader.

    The general election earlier this month was Sri Lanka's
    third in four years. By law, Kumaratunga will not be able
    to call a fresh election for another year.

    Lawmakers argued over procedural details for nearly an
    hour before the voting began.

    Members of both the government and opposition parties,
    many dressed in traditional flowing long white tops, openly
    implored a new party of Buddhist monks for their
    last-minute support.

    The monks, in orange and red robes, briefly walked out
    of the chamber before the first ballot and most abstained
    from voting.

    Their National Heritage Party, which holds a decisive
    nine seats in parliament, had been expected to support the
    president's alliance on a limited basis in the longer term.

    It was not clear if their decision to abstain signalled
    a change in strategy.

    Kumaratunga's left-leaning alliance needed an early and
    decisive victory to prove its power and had been courting
    smaller parties and opposition members for weeks to bolster
    its ranks.

    But cracks began to appear in her coalition soon after
    the election. One key coalition member, the People's
    Liberation Front, continues to haggle over control of
    powerful ministries and has opposed devolution of power to
    the minority Tamils.

    Kumaratunga said after the election that peace talks
    should resume as soon as possible, but analysts say her
    coalition lacks a coherent strategy on how to proceed with
    the peace process and they are not sure it can gain the
    Tamil rebels' trust.

    The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have said they
    will talk to anyone who has a clear mandate, but
    Kumaratunga has been an arch-foe since they tried to kill her in a
    suicide bomb attack that left her blind in one eye.

    She widely accused the previous government of former
    Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of endangering national
    security by making too many concessions to the rebels.

    Direct talks to end the civil war that has killed
    64,000 people broke down in 2003 amid incessant political
    bickering in Colombo, but a truce has held for more than
    two years.


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