Sri Lanka’s new President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday invited all the political parties to join his national unity government and pledged to work for religious harmony by giving due recognition to
Sri Lanka’s new President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday invited all the political parties to join his national unity government and pledged to work for religious harmony by giving due recognition to all minorities.
“I invite all parties to be part of a government of national unity,” Mr Sirisena said in his first address to the nation from the central town of Kandy after winning the historic elections that ended the 10-year rule of Mr Rajapaksa.
Mr Sirisena said as pledged in his campaign manifesto, the powers of the executive President will be conferred to Parliament.
Eliminating poverty would be the priority for his government, he said. He also promised to strengthen economy with friendly foreign policy.
He said his government would uphold the majority religion of Buddhism and work to achieve religious harmony by giving due recognition to all minorities. “It’s not a King we need in this country but a true servant of the people,” Mr Sirisena said in a obvious reference to his predecessor Mr Rajapaksa, who was hailed a “King” for his action to defeat the LTTE’s separatist campaign. Sri Lanka’s minorities include Tamils (13 per cent) and Muslims (17 per cent). Mr Rajapaksa’s health minister until late November, Mr Sirisena defected to become the Opposition unity candidate in the January 8 polls.
He has appointed the main Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new Prime Minister.
Mr Sirisena has engineered enough defections from his predecessor’s party to secure a parliamentary majority essential for radical constitutional reforms, officials said Sunday.
Mr Sirisena has already received the backing of more than 40 legislators who were previously loyal to Mahinda Rajapaksa, whom he unseated in Thursday’s presidential election, spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said.
“We now have more than we need in Parliament,” Mr Senaratne told AFP.
“We can have our legislative programme approved without any difficulty whatsoever.” Mr Sirisena, who was to address the nation later Sunday from the historic hill city of Kandy, previously had the backing of 89 legislators and needed another 24 to secure a simple majority in the 225-member House.
The new leader has already pledged to reverse many of the constitutional changes brought in by his predecessor which gave huge powers to the President.
Mr Sirisena wants to establish independent commissions to run the police, the public service and the judiciary and transfer much of his executive powers to Parliament.
