COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the president's order to dissolve Parliament and hold new elections, opening the way for lawmakers to vote on whether to accept his earlier ouster of the prime minister.

Sri Lanka has been in a political crisis since Oct. 26, when President Maithripala Sirisena suddenly fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.

A day later Sirisena suspended Parliament, apparently to allow Rajapaksa time to gather support among lawmakers. But Wickremesinghe insisted his firing was unconstitutional. He refused to vacate his official residence and demanded that Parliament be summoned to prove he still has support.

Amid mounting pressure from political opponents and foreign governments, including the United States and the EU, to convene Parliament to end the impasse, Sirisena announced the legislature would return this Wednesday.

But last Friday, he instead dissolved Parliament and called new elections in January. Opponents said Sirisena made the decision because Rajapaksa had been unable to assemble a majority.

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to suspend the president's order until Dec. 7, after 13 political parties and individuals filed petitions with the court calling the dissolution unconstitutional. It said it would hold hearings on the case starting Dec. 4.

Wickremesinghe welcomed the ruling, calling it "a resounding victory for people's franchise."

"The powers of the president are limited. The president must act according to the law, he is not above the law," he said.

Hours after the court's ruling, the office of the speaker of Parliament announced that lawmakers would meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Wickremesinghe said he was ready to "show that we have the majority and that we are the legitimate government of Sri Lanka."

After the ruling was announced, hundreds of opposition supporters who had gathered near the court cheered and lit firecrackers.

Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, said the order "proves that Sri Lanka's judiciary is independent and that they were prepared to give a judgment that went against the executive."

"That's a positive indication of the continuing strength of Sri Lanka's institutions and their independence which is important to the sustenance of our democracy," he added.

Tensions had been building between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe for some time, as the president did not approve of economic reforms introduced by the prime minister. Sirisena has also accused Wickremesinghe and another Cabinet member of plotting to assassinate him, a charge Wickremesinghe has repeatedly denied.

Sirisena was also critical of investigations into military personnel who were accused of human rights violations during Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war against a Tamil separatist group, which ended in 2009.

Rajapaksa, who was president from 2005 to 2015, is considered a hero by some in Sri Lanka's ethnic Sinhalese majority for ending the war by crushing the Tamil rebels.

But his time in power was marred by allegations of war-time atrocities, corruption and nepotism.</s>Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has overturned President Maithripala Sirisena's decision to dissolve parliament and ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections.

The decision on Tuesday was the latest in a protracted political crisis triggered by Sirisena's surprise move on October 26 to fire Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replace him with Mahinda Rajapaksa, a controversial former president.

Both men, however, are claiming the post of prime minister, and Wickremesinghe is holed up in the official residence and refusing to step down.

The 225-member parliament is expected to reconvene on Wednesday and go ahead with a vote to test if Rajapaksa is able to summon a majority in the legislature.

"I will go to parliament tomorrow and we will show we are the legitimate government of Sri Lanka," Wickremesinghe said at the Temple Trees residence.

The people have won their first victory. Let's go forward and re-establish the sovereignty of the people in our beloved country. — Ranil Wickremesinghe (@RW_UNP) November 13, 2018

For its part, Rajapaksa's party said they will appeal to a fuller bench of the highest court in the land to reconsider Tuesday's decision.



The former president's son, a lawmaker, took to Twitter to deny speculation that his father was planning to step down and avoid facing a vote in parliament.

Rumors circulating that PM @PresRajapaksa resigning is completely false. We will all attend parliament tomorrow. The decision by the Supreme Court is an interim order to consider the case and “not” the final decision. — Namal Rajapaksa (@RajapaksaNamal) November 13, 2018

The ruling came a day after political parties petitioned the court against the president's decision last week to dissolve parliament and call for a snap vote on January 5.

The three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice Nalin Perera read out the landmark decision to a packed court in the capital, Colombo.

The court also said it would give a final verdict on the petition on December 7, after three more days of hearings.

"[This decision] effectively says the court believes ... the president has acted unconstitutionally in dissolving the parliament," Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith, reporting from Colombo, said.

Crucial vote expected

Sajith Premadasa, a legislator with Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), hailed the ruling.

"We have an independent and just judiciary, correctly interpreting the provisions and stipulations in the constitution and binding by all the legal norms to promote democracy, justice and fairness," he told Al Jazeera.

The UNP had "vehemently" rejected the sacking of the parliament and demanded a House vote to prove that the deposed leader still had the backing of at least 113 legislators.

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Hours before Sirisena dissolved parliament on Friday, his coalition had admitted it could not muster enough parliamentary support for the president's nominee.

"If that vote goes ahead in parliament on Wednesday, and Wickremesinghe is reconfirmed prime minister, that means Rajapaksa is out after having been appointed very controversially by the president," Al Jazeera's Smith said.

"It is a very difficult time, particularly for the president," he added.

Security at the courtroom was beefed up ahead of the hearing as authorities feared clashes between rival supporters.

However, there was no trouble and supporters of Sirisena left peacefully when it was known that parliament had been restored.

The United States, European Union and other members of the international community have raised concerns over the crisis.

Only China has recognised the appointment of Rajapaksa, who during his decade as president until 2015 relied heavily on Beijing for diplomatic and financial support.</s>Less than three weeks after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena shocked the country by sacking his prime minister and suspending Parliament, his bid to consolidate power has hit a major speed bump: the country's Supreme Court.

Justices have overturned Sirisena's recent decree dissolving Parliament, and issued an order of their own, staying the president's attempt to replace sitting lawmakers through snap elections. Sirisena had wanted to push forward with snap elections in January, but court is putting that plan on hold for now while it considers the constitutional arguments against the move.

Tuesday's ruling met with celebrations from Sirisena's critics, who say the president violated Sri Lanka's constitution with his actions in recent weeks, beginning with the abrupt firing of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe late last month.

"The people have won their first victory," tweeted Wickremesinghe, who has refused to cede his position to the man Sirisena appointed to replace him, former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. "Let's go forward and re-establish the sovereignty of the people in our beloved country."

The court's decision marks the latest — but certainly not the last — chapter in a saga that opened with a bang on Oct. 26. That was when Sirisena ended his increasingly rocky political alliance with Wickremesinghe by ousting the minister and replacing him within hours with Rajapaksa. Then, amid protest from lawmakers, Sirisena proceeded to suspend Parliament, as well.

The following weeks did little to ease the chaos at Sri Lanka's highest levels of power. The president and his newly appointed prime minister alleged an assassination plot by Wickremesinghe's cabinet members, while elsewhere in the capital, Colombo, deadly clashes broke out between protesters and the security detail for one of those cabinet members.

And on Friday, after briefly flirting with the prospect of reconvening Parliament, the president reversed course again and said it would be dissolved entirely and replaced in a snap vote scheduled for January. He and Rajapaksa cast the decision as a bid to avoid bloodshed in an increasingly unstable political environment.

"As leaders, it is our responsibility and obligation to give the people the opportunity to voice their opinions on the future of [Sri Lanka]," said Rajapaksa, who has been dogged by allegations of war crimes and corruption connected to his decade in power. "A general election will truly establish the will of the people and make way for a stable country."

Now, that plan is on hold until the Supreme Court considers it further early next month — and lawmakers expect Parliament to reconvene Wednesday.

And they expect to call the parliamentary procedure Sirisena apparently wished to avoid when he suspended the body the first time: a vote to determine whether the president has the backing of a majority of lawmakers. Members of Wickremesinghe's party, the United National Party, have repeatedly asserted that Sirisena does not.

"It is difficult for me to remain silent in the face of severe violation of democratic principles," the speaker of Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, said in a statement released last week. And he noted that he will not accept Sirisena's recent moves without the support of most lawmakers, adding: "I am compelled to accept the status that existed previously until such time that they and the new political alliance prove their majority in Parliament."</s>COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended a presidential decree to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections, heightening the country’s political uncertainty.

Later on Tuesday, Karu Jayasuriya, the speaker of Parliament said the legislature would reconvene at 10 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Wednesday, as originally scheduled.

Sri Lanka has been in political turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month and appointed a pro-China former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his place.

Sirisena, facing international pressure, reconvened parliament on Nov. 14, but on Friday, he suddenly dissolved it and ordered a general election for Jan. 5.

But the Supreme Court, hearing petitions by supporters of Wickremesinghe, stayed the latest presidential orders until Dec. 7. It will decide then on the petitions challenging the decree.

Sirisena did not have the authority to sack parliament, according to a constitutional amendment passed in 2015, the petitioners said.

Sirisena’s supporters said the coalition government had failed to deliver on its promises and an election was the best course

The instability in the island nation of 21 million people has raised concerns for its economy, already expanding at its slowest pace in more than a decade.

Wickremesinghe welcomed the court’s decision as being in line with the constitution. “You can’t play football with the constitution and you can’t bend the constitution as and how you want.”

He said parliament should open on Wednesday, when he hoped to prove his majority.</s>In a major setback to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, the Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned his controversial decision to dissolve Parliament and ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections on January 5.

 A three-member bench, including country’s Chief Justice Nalin Perera, delivered its ruling after two days of deliberations on as many as 13 petitions against and five for Sirisena’s November 9 decision to dissolve Parliament, nearly two years before its term was to end.

 Sirisena dissolved Parliament after it became clear that he lacked support from lawmakers to install former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new Prime Minister following his October 26 sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe as premier.

 All petitions filed against Sirisena’s decision will be heard on December 4, 5 and 6, the apex court ruled, according to the opposition party officials attending the hearing held under tight security. Major political parties and an election commission member Ratnajeevan Hoole on Monday dragged Sirisena to the Supreme Court, challenging his move of dissolving Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end.

 Sirisena dissolved Parliament and ordered snap election on January 5, plunging the country into an unprecedented political and constitutional crises. Rajapaksa needed the support of minimum 113 parliamentarians in the 225-member House to prove his majority.

 Wickremesinghe has maintained that his sacking by Sirisena was unconstitutional and illegal and was still the prime minister.

 Sirisena on Sunday stoutly defended his move to dissolve Parliament, saying it was taken to prevent clashes among rival lawmakers. He said there were reports that politicians would clash during the floor test, which was due on November 14.

 At the hearing Tuesday, Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya, on behalf of the state, justified Sirisena’s action, saying the powers of the President are clear and unambiguous as provided for in the Constitution and the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament was done by the President in accordance with the Constitution. He pleaded for the dismissal of all petitions and said the President is empowered to dissolve Parliament.

 Rajapaksa, 72, who ruled Lanka for a nearly decade from 2005, was unexpectedly defeated by his deputy Sirisena in the presidential election held in January 2015 with the support from Wickremesinghe’s UNP.

 However, the power-sharing arrangement between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe became increasingly tenuous on several policy matters, especially on issues like the economy and security. And subsequently, Sirisena abruptly ousted Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Rajapaksa.— PTI</s>Colombo: In a major setback to Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, the Supreme Court Tuesday overturned his controversial decision to dissolve Parliament and ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections on January 5.

A three-member bench, including country's chief justice Nalin Perera, delivered its ruling after two days of deliberations on as many as 13 petitions against and five for Sirisena's November 9 decision to dissolve Parliament, nearly two years before the its term was to end.

Sirisena dissolved Parliament after it became clear that he lacked support from lawmakers to instal former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa as the new prime Minister following his October 26 sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe as premier.

All petitions filed against Sirisena's decision will be heard on December 4, 5 and 6, the apex court ruled, according to the opposition party officials attending the hearing held under tight security.

Major political parties and an election commission member Ratnajeevan Hoole on Monday dragged Sirisena to the Supreme Court, challenging his move of dissolving Parliament, almost 20 months before its term was to end.

Sirisena dissolved Parliament and ordered snap election on January 5, plunging the country's into an unprecedented political and constitutional crises. Rajapaksa needed the support of minimum 113 parliamentarians in the 225-member House to prove his majority.

Wickremesinghe has maintained that his sacking by Sirisena was unconstitutional and illegal and was still the prime minister. Sirisena on Sunday stoutly defended his move to dissolve Parliament, saying it was taken to prevent clashes among rival lawmakers.

He said there were reports that politicians would clash during the floor test, which was due on November 14.

At the hearing Tuesday, Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya, on behalf of the state, justified Sirisena's action, saying the powers of the President are clear and unambiguous as provided for in the Constitution and the announcement of the dissolution of Parliament was done by the President in accordance with the Constitution. He pleaded for the dismissal of all petitions and said the President is empowered to dissolve Parliament.

Rajapaksa, 72, who ruled Lanka for a nearly decade from 2005, was unexpectedly defeated by his deputy Sirisena in the presidential election held in January 2015 with the support from Wickremesinghe's UNP.

However, the power-sharing arrangement between Sirisena and Wickremesinghe became increasingly tenuous on several policy matters, especially on issues like the economy and security. And subsequently, Sirisena abruptly ousted Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Rajapaksa.</s>COLOMBO, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended a presidential decree to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections, heightening the country's political uncertainty.

Later on Tuesday, Karu Jayasuriya, the speaker of Parliament said the legislature would reconvene at 10 a.m. (0430 GMT) on Wednesday, as originally scheduled.

Sri Lanka has been in political turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month and appointed a pro-China former president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in his place.

Sirisena, facing international pressure, reconvened parliament on Nov. 14, but on Friday, he suddenly dissolved it and ordered a general election for Jan. 5.

But the Supreme Court, hearing petitions by supporters of Wickremesinghe, stayed the latest presidential orders until Dec. 7. It will decide then on the petitions challenging the decree.

Sirisena did not have the authority to sack parliament, according to a constitutional amendment passed in 2015, the petitioners said.

Sirisena's supporters said the coalition government had failed to deliver on its promises and an election was the best course.

Sirisena soon after the court decision met the security council in a bid to maintain peace and order, local media said.

Nimal Siripala, an ally of Sirisena said an application will be made to the Supreme Court to refer the matter for the five-member full bench. The Tuesday verdict was decided by a three-member bench.

The instability in the island nation of 21 million people has raised concerns for its economy, already expanding at its slowest pace in more than a decade.

Wickremesinghe welcomed the court's decision as being in line with the constitution. "You can't play football with the constitution and you can't bend the constitution as and how you want."

He said parliament should open on Wednesday, when he hoped to prove his majority.

However, Sirisena's allies said a vote of confidence cannot be decided by the parliament speaker.

"This is just an interim order and not the final decision," Faiszer Musthapha, a lawmaker and legal expert told reporters.

"The process is you have to bring a no confidence motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and defeat." (Reporting by Shihar Aneez Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Matthew Mpoke Bigg)</s>Sri Lanka’s supreme court has suspended a presidential decree dissolving parliament and ruled that an earlier call to summon MPs is valid.

The court decided that the decree issued last Friday by President Maithripala Sirisena to dissolve the legislature will be suspended until December 7.

On October 26, Mr Sirisena abruptly ousted prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.

A day later he suspended parliament, apparently to allow Mr Rajapaksa time to gather support among MPs.

He later ordered parliament to return on Wednesday, but then dissolved it last Friday and called for new elections in January.

Mr Wickremesinghe has refused to step down.

Opposition MP Ajith Perera said parliament will meet on Wednesday to prove that Mr Wickremesinghe has the support of a majority of his colleagues.</s>Sri Lanka' Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned President Maithripala Sirisena's dissolution of Parliament and ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections on January 5, party officials present at the hearing said.

A three-member bench including the country's chief justice Nalin Perera delivered its ruling after two days of deliberations on as many as 13 petitions against and five for Sirisena's November 9 decision to dissolve Parliament.

All petitions filed against Sirisena's decision will be heard on December 4, 5 and 6, the apex court ruled.

The petitioners included a member of the independent election commission Ratnajeevan Hoole.

Sirisena dissolved Parliament and ordered snap election on January 5, plunging the country's into an unprecedented political and constitutional crises since October 26 when he sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Sri Lankan President had appointed Mahinda Rajapaksa as the country’s new Prime Minister. But Wickremesinghe and other constitutional experts questioned the validity of the decision and have refused to accept Rajapaksa as the Prime Minister, plunging the Sri Lankan into a political crisis.</s>Less than three weeks after Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena shocked the country by sacking his prime minister and suspending Parliament, his bid to consolidate power has hit a major speed bump: the country’s Supreme Court.

Justices have overturned Sirisena’s recent decree dissolving Parliament, and issued an order of their own, staying the president’s attempt to replace sitting lawmakers through snap elections. Sirisena had wanted to push forward with snap elections in January, but court is putting that plan on hold for now while it considers the constitutional arguments against the move.

Tuesday’s ruling met with celebrations from Sirisena’s critics, who say the president violated Sri Lanka’s constitution with his actions in recent weeks, beginning with the abrupt firing of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe late last month.

“The people have won their first victory,” tweeted Wickremesinghe, who has refused to cede his position to the man Sirisena appointed to replace him, former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapaksa. “Let’s go forward and re-establish the sovereignty of the people in our beloved country.”

The court’s decision marks the latest — but certainly not the last — chapter in a saga that opened with a bang on Oct. 26. That was when Sirisena ended his increasingly rocky political alliance with Wickremesinghe by ousting the minister and replacing him within hours with Rajapaksa. Then, amid protest from lawmakers, Sirisena proceeded to suspend Parliament, as well.

The following weeks did little to ease the chaos at Sri Lanka’s highest levels of power. The president and his newly appointed prime minister alleged an assassination plot by Wickremesinghe’s cabinet members, while elsewhere in the capital, Colombo, deadly clashes broke out between protesters and the security detail for one of those cabinet members.

And on Friday, after briefly flirting with the prospect of reconvening Parliament, the president reversed course again and said it would be dissolved entirely and replaced in a snap vote scheduled for January. He and Rajapaksa cast the decision as a bid to avoid bloodshed in an increasingly unstable political environment.

“As leaders, it is our responsibility and obligation to give the people the opportunity to voice their opinions on the future of [Sri Lanka],” said Rajapaksa, who has been dogged by allegations of war crimes and corruption connected to his decade in power. “A general election will truly establish the will of the people and make way for a stable country.”

Now, that plan is on hold until the Supreme Court considers it further early next month — and lawmakers expect Parliament to reconvene Wednesday.

And they expect to call the parliamentary procedure Sirisena apparently wished to avoid when he suspended the body the first time: a vote to determine whether the president has the backing of a majority of lawmakers. Members of Wickremesinghe’s party, the United National Party, have repeatedly asserted that Sirisena does not.

“It is difficult for me to remain silent in the face of severe violation of democratic principles,” the speaker of Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, said in a statement released last week. And he noted that he will not accept Sirisena’s recent moves without the support of most lawmakers, adding: “I am compelled to accept the status that existed previously until such time that they and the new political alliance prove their majority in Parliament.”
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka reverses President Maithripala Sirisena's decisions to dissolve Parliament and to hold snap elections.