brand logo

Sirisena urges President, PM, and Government to resign

11 Jul 2022

Claiming that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and the Government have no political or moral right to remain in power in the face of severe public opposition that has arisen, former President, incumbent Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Chairman and MP Maithripala Sirisena emphasised that they should resign immediately.  In a statement issued yesterday (10), he said that the President, the Premier, and the Government have no moral or political right to remain in power, adding that they should therefore resign as soon as possible. He also said that if they continue to act without understanding the public opposition, a very dangerous situation is likely to arise.  Taking into account the prevailing situation, the SLFP has also presented a series of proposals. Accordingly, the SLFP which stated that the current President and Premier should resign immediately, pointed out that Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena should be appointed as the Acting President until a President is appointed. The SLFP has also proposed that a National Executive Council (NEC) or a Leadership Council (LC) should be established, which would consist of the leaders of all political parties represented in the Parliament in order to establish the proposed all-party, interim Government. Sirisena, in the statement, added that the President and Premier should be appointed with the agreement of the NEC, the LC, and active civil activists, academics, and professionals. Furthermore, the SLFP’s proposals included the appointment of a crisis management cabinet with a limited number of scopes to achieve essential and targeted objectives to bring the country back to its pre-crisis status. It has also been suggested that a National Advisory Council consisting of academics, professionals, and civil activists be established under the respective ministries in the crisis-management Cabinet. “An integrated management programme targeting the economy, food security, essential services, social welfare, and social security programmes, and socio-political reform/decentralisation approaches should be implemented as soon as possible to manage the crisis,” the statement read.  In addition, the SLFP has stated that the 19th Amendment to the Constitution should be re-adopted with the necessary optimal amendments without delay, while pointing out that the drafting of a new Constitution should be the leading task of the new Government in order to build the nation and make Sri Lanka a developed country.  The SLFP also added that as soon as the country is restored to its pre-crisis status, a Parliamentary Election should be held and the people should be given the democratic right to appoint a new Government. Sirisena further went on to claim that the economic crisis – which arose due to the failure to undergo a proper restructuring of the economic, social, and political sectors in time and the failure of the political authority to manage the resources of the country for national development – has intensified rapidly in the last three months and has now put the country at a very serious and critical stage. Last Saturday (9), hundreds of thousands of people had gathered at the Galle Face Green in Colombo, where they protested demanding the immediate resignation of the President, the Premier, and the Government. They ultimately took over the Presidential Secretariat, the President’s House, and the Temple Trees. During the massive protests on that day, Premier Wickremesinghe had called an all-party leaders’ meeting, during which it had been decided by the attendees that the President should resign. Following this, Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has stated he had been informed by the President that the latter would resign on Wednesday (13).


More News..