President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday rejected the document pertaining to the no confidence motion on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, sent to him by Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.
The President in a letter to the Speaker said, he had acted under the powers vested in him by the Constitution when issuing the Gazette which the Speaker was referring to.
The President stated that although it was clearly mentioned in the Constitution and Standing Orders the steps to be taken when presented with a No-Confidence Motion against the Government, the Speaker seems to have ignored the Constitution, Standing Orders and Parliamentary traditions.
Moreover, the President pointed out that this could infringe on the legal proceedings regarding issues connected to the Parliament which are now underway.
The President said that although he had powers under provisions to appoint a Prime Minister who could garner the confidence of parliament members there was no need or parliamentary tradition to prove either the Prime Minister or the Government had a majority.
The President expressed his regret about the action taken by Speaker to submit to him a letter consisting of signatures from MPs which the President describes as not compliant with the due process.
President Sirisena recalled that although the Prime Minister on January 09, 2015 D.M.Jayaratne had the support of 163 members in Parliament he had taken steps to appoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Premier although he had only 41 seats due to a request made by the political party represented by Jayasuriya then.
The President stated that the Speaker has failed to refer to the Constitution when delivering his verdict.
The President stated that he completely rejects the notion that he had not acted in accordance with the Constitution and said he acted under the powers vested in him by the constitution when taking the decision regarding the appointment of the Prime Minister.
The President stressed that under the Constitution he was vested with powers of appointing a Prime Minister.
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