Former Minister of Finance and Media Mangala Samaraweera said that Sri Lanka is the only country in the world currently without a stable government in place.
"On December 3, the Court of Appeal granted an interim injunction after taking into consideration the petitions filed against President Maithripala Sirisena's conspiratorial and unconstitutional decision to appoint a Prime Minister and a Cabinet on October 26. While 48 hours have elapsed since the granting of the interim injunction, no step has been taken to establish a stable government yet. As a result, in this situation, Sri Lanka, not only in its own history but within the democratic world has become the only country to exist without a government," Samaraweera said in statement.
Samaraweera also said that president Sirisena has been trying mislead the masses by trying to trivialize the issue of not having a government by quoting false examples of similar instances elsewhere in the world thereby displaying his ignorance on international affairs.
"At the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) sessions, he was quoted as saying that despite this phenomena of not having a government is new to Sri Lanka, such situations have existed in other countries the world over. The example he presented to support his claim was Germany. In a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to justify his unconstitutional conspiracy, President Sirisena claimed there was no government in Germany for a period of six months following its last elections," he said.
"During the 2017 German General Elections, no political party was able to secure a clear majority. Therefore, to establish a stable government following months and several rounds of discussions, they were able to form a government in March 2018. In the time period which President Sirisena claimed the country was without a government, all government administration was handled by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Cabinet of Ministers," Samaraweera said.
"Not only that, in Germany following a No Confidence Motion (NCM) to avoid a situation where the country will be without a government, every time a NCM is presented, the name of the possible successor is always included in the motion as per Germany's Constructive Motion of No-Confidence," he added.
Samaraweera pointed out that a similar situation exists in Sweden today and that at the last General Election, no party was able to secure a majority in order to form a government.
"As discussions were held for months till the government was established, the Prime Minister continued in his role to avoid an unstable situation," he said.
Samaraweera further said that creating a situation where the country is without a stable government is not only against the country’s Constitution, common law but is also internationally illegal and even akin to a dictatorship.
"Even a temporary halt of the Constitution can only happen under a dictatorship. As a result the oldest democracy in Asia, Sri Lanka is now on a downward spiral towards the formation of a totalitarian state. The full responsibility of this lies with President Maithripala Sirisena alone," he said.
By creating such a situation the President has also recklessly violated all the pledges made by him and for his actions, President Sirisena should not only be punished by way of an impeachment but also through the common law of this country, he said
Samaraweera also said that the moment has arrived for everyone who values democracy to gather in spite of partisan, racial and religious allegiances to stand up against those who are responsible for the damage and destruction that have happened to Sri Lanka as a result of the president's actions.
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