Sri Lanka: President Sirisena fails to meet deadline to end political crisis

The political crisis in the island nation started in late October when Sirisena sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post of Prime Minister and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirirsena’s deadline to find a solution to the ongoing political crisis in the island nation has ended on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena speaks during a meeting with Foreign Correspondents Association at his residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka November 25, 2018. (REUTERS)

Sirisena on December 4 took to Twitter saying, “The current political crisis will not drag on beyond seven days. I have always taken decisions in the best interest of the country and the people”. However, as the deadline ends today, there seems no solution to the crisis anytime soon in the future.

The political crisis in the island nation started in late October when Sirisena sacked Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post of Prime Minister and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Subsequently, Rajapaksa was also ousted after No-Confidence motion was passed against him in Parliament twice.

A Sri Lankan court had also passed an interim order against Rajapaksa which barred him from holding the Prime Minister office.

Last week, Sirisena also claimed that Rajapaksa had tried to bribe politicians in order to show a majority in the country’s Parliament.