The Central Bank Bill, which is among the goals given according to the agreement made with the International Monetary Fund, was passed in Parliament on Thursday (20).
The bill was considered to be one of the most serious pieces of legislation introduced to the Sri Lankan Parliament in recent times, however, 113 Sri Lankan legislators from the ruling faction and the opposition were not present in the house during the second reading vote. The bill was passed without a vote in the third reading.
The Second Reading of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Bill was passed by a majority of 42 votes in Parliament during the second reading.
66 votes were cast in favor, while only 24 votes were cast against it.
113 MPs including Mahinda Rajapaksa, Namal Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena, Sajith Premadasa, G. L. Peiris, Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thero, M. A. Sumanthiran, Gajendrankuram Ponnambalam, Champika Ranawaka, Jeevan Thondaman representing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, Samagi Jana Balavegaya, and the Tamil National Alliance were not present in the chamber for the vote.
When the debate took place on Thursday (20) morning, opposition MPs requested more time to study the bill, citing that there were a plethora of amendments.
They called for a vote to take place later, after proceeding with a debate.
However, the speaker was compelled to ring the bell and summon MPs due to the lack of quorum, twice during the debate.
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