Sri Lankan president’s ruling coalition loses majority after 41 lawmakers walk out amid growing unrest

At least 41 lawmakers have walked out of ruling alliance

Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition lost its majority in parliament on Tuesday amid growing unrest in the country over an economic crisis.

Mr Rajapaksa lost his majority after at least 41 lawmakers walked out of the alliance, according to parliamentary proceedings.

In a statement Maithripala Sirisena, leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which withdrew its support for Rajapaksa’s coalition, said: “Our party is on the side of the people.”

With the withdrawal of his alliance partner Mr Rajapaksa has been left with a minority government which could make decision making difficult.

His government’s proposals can, however, continue to receive support from independent lawmakers.

Earlier on Tuesday Mr Rajapaksa said that he will not resign from his position while speaking to senior party members, reported Sri Lankan newspaper the Daily Mirror.

He added that he was ready to hand over the government to whoever reaches the majority of 113 seats in parliament.

In the previous election Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition had won 145 out of 225 seats.

In a statement in parliament, oppposition leader Sajith Premadasa said that the executive presidency should be abolished this week.

“There should be no voice in parliament, apart from the voice heard from the streets. The people want a change in government and the parliament must understand it," he informed MPs.

Meanwhile the country’s newly appointed finance minister Ali Sabry, who had replaced the president’s brother, Basil Rajapaksa, also handed in his resignation on Tuesday.

He said in a letter to the president: “I am now of the view, for your Excellency to make suitable interim arrangement to navigate this unprecedented crisis, fresh and proactive and unconventional steps need to be taken, including the appointment of a new finance minister.”

The country’s central bank is set to name a new chief after the bank’s head Ajith Nivard Cabraal offered his resignation on Monday.

P Nandalal Weerasinghe will take up the position of the bank’s governor on Thursday, reported BBC.

However, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has not yet made an official announcement on his appointment.

On Monday the president’s invitation to opposition parties to "join the effort to seek solutions to the national crisis" was met with refusals.

The president’s invitation came after all 26 ministers of the Rajapaksa government had tendered their resignations on Sunday after the country saw thousands taking to the streets to protest against the country’s worst economic crisis in memory.

The economic crisis comes amid months of shortages of food, fuel and prolonged power cuts lasting up to 13 hours in the country.

Experts say that the country’s usable foreign reserves are said to be less than $400m. It also has nearly $7bn in foreign debt obligations for this year alone, reported Associated Press.

In unprecedented protests in capital Colombo, people have demanded Mr Rajapaksa’s resignation along with that of his brother, prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and other members of the Rajapaksa family who are in the government.