President Is Impeached, Flees Or Military Coup: What Could Happen In Lanka

President Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa had opposed the call to resign, instead promised to form a new government after this week’s clash killed eight people in the escalation of the crisis for months due to lack of food and fuel.
I will provide an opportunity for new governments and new PMs to start a new program to bring the country in the future,” he said in a television speech, adding that after stability was restored, he would discuss the executive forces with all political parties.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa had previously extended the national curfew until Thursday morning, after the government supporters on Monday initiated attacks on the protesters who were camping for weeks in downtown Colombo to call for his dismissal. The opponents of Mr. Rajapaksa then attacked members of the party parliament in power and burned some of their homes, encouraging key family members to effectively hide.

His brother Mahinda Rajapaksa stopped as a prime minister that led to the dissolution of the cabinet, not leaving the government to negotiate with international monetary funds and creditors with $ 8.6 billion debt due to this year. The agreement is very important to stabilize state finances and help the government provide important goods for 22 million countries.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa refused to resign, and the opposition had rejected his offer about the unity government without constitutional changes that would reduce the presidency.

He needs to give the country to a period of time about what will happen,” Jehan Pera, executive director at the National Peace Council in Colombo, said the President. “This is one way he can redeem himself as a statesman before everything becomes worse

1. The president is impeached

Under the constitution of Sri Lanka, eliminating the president is difficult and time consuming. First, a resolution must be ratified by two -thirds of parliament who explain why a president is not feasible for positions, then it must be investigated by the Supreme Court, and then if the judge agrees with these findings, parliament members need to vote again.

Officials in the front party of the people of Sri Lanka who were in power said they were still leading the majority in parliament, and last week they proved that they had numbers in the voting for the new speaker. It is unclear whether violence, which caused an attack on the houses of more than two dozen members of parliament and former ministers who were connected with Rajapaksas, and the death of a member of the ruling party parliament, changed the equation altogether.

2. The President formed a unity government with the opposition

Now his sister left as Prime Minister, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had made another opening against the opposition to form the government of all parties. The main opposition parties consistently reject their offer, because the president will still maintain great power.

The influential Buddhist priest and Sri Lanka’s lawyer board proposed a temporary government that would run the country for 18 months while members of parliament compiled the constitutional amendment to curb the president’s power. But any government that does not have broad -based support tends to be unstable.

3. Parliamentary Porridge President, Holding New Elections

The constitution does not allow the president to dissolve parliament until the middle of his term of office for five years, which did not until February 2023. But it allowed the parliament to ask for the dissolution before issuing a resolution.

Advertisement by
While some opposition leaders have floated this option in the last few days, the election will also be expensive and time consuming. And even if the opposition wins, Gotabaya Rajapaksa will still maintain the key power as president. He has the power to appoint a prime minister who in his opinion ordered the majority of parliament, and he will have a great voice in naming and firing the Cabinet Minister. He can also assign himself to the portfolio of any ministry.

This is why the opposition has submitted a bill to cut the presidency rather than encouraging elections. The previous cabinet under Mahinda Rajapaksa had also moved the writing of a new bill to curb the executive president.

While the election may be able to provide the opposition of the majority of two-thirds, he needs to change the constitution, which may require referendum ratification and may be bound in the Supreme Court-all of which can all drag on for months.

4. The President resigned, escaped from the country

This is what the protesters expect with their singing about “Go Home Gota,” and cannot be ruled out if violence spreads. If the president resigned, then immediately anyone who becomes the prime minister will take over, with the speaker of the DPR as the next line.

Then the parliament has one month to choose a replacement with an absolute majority through secret voting, according to the constitution. Each member of parliament will meet the requirements, including outsiders who take the party list position before the voting. The new president will hold a position for the remaining term of office, which ended in 2024.

Nishan de Mel, Executive Director of Verite Research, said Gotabaya Rajapaksa had three main options: resignation, impeachment, or compromise that included reducing the strength of the president. “He has rejected the three options,” said De Mel.

5. Military coup

While Sri Lanka has a history of authoritarian government, if anyone has a coup, it is likely to help Rajapaksas. Brothers have been running Sri Lanka for 13 of the last 17 years, often with iron fist. Gotabaya Rajapaksa is widely credited by ending the 26-year separatist conflict with Tamil ethnic rebels and has appointed more than two dozen serving or retired military officers into the main posts.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Top Allies Include Sri Layan Army Chief General Shavendra Silva, who has been sanctioned by the U.S. On Allegations of War Crimes Committed During the last phase of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and Kamal Gunaratne, Secretary to the Defense Minister who was accused of doing similar actions. Both of them denied making mistakes.

Silva has told foreign diplomats that the Sri Lanka army will enforce the constitution and “ready to provide security and protection to the state as needed.”

For now, Rajapaksa has given strength to the military under an emergency to hold people without a 24 -hour warrant while private property can be sought.