Top Sri Lanka Court Rules Against President’s Snap Election Plan

(Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s top court ruled against President Maithripala Sirisena’s plan to dissolve the island nation’s parliament and call a new national vote, extending a political crisis that has roiled the island nation since late October.

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled as unconstitutional a presidential notice to dissolve parliament before a period of four-and-a-half years from its first sitting unless the move was endorsed by a two-third majority of parliament. The verdict means Sirisena’s order for parliamentary elections on Jan. 5 is also void.

The key court decision comes after Sirisena abruptly sacked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Oct. 26. The court’s order puts further pressure on Sirisena to reinstate Wickremesinghe, who had served since 2015 in a unity government with the president. Sri Lanka’s dollar bonds due in 2028 rose the most since Dec. 3, increasing 0.5 cent to about 90 cents, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.

"This is a victory for the people," Eran Wickramaratne, a state minister of finance under Wickremesinghe, said by phone. "We expect the president now to reappoint Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister."

Suspended Parliament

It was not immediately clear what supporters of Rajapaksa, who have previously caused chaos in parliament as they defended the former strongman, would do following the court’s decision.

"Even though we do not agree, there is no court to go beyond this," said Namal Rajapaksa, a Sri Lankan lawmaker and son of the former president. "We will take a decision as a group.”

Sirisena’s actions have been strongly criticized by countries including the U.S., while the political crisis has led to Moody’s, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings to downgrade the island nation’s credit rating.

“The court’s decision is a check on the power of the president, now and in the future, which is important,” said Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka. “But the issue is Sirisena refusing to reappoint Wickremesinghe, which means the court decision won’t legally change the deadlock. But it could put political and moral pressure on him to back off.”

Frozen Spending

Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal on Dec. 3 issued an interim order preventing Rajapaksa and his ministers from exercising powers until it hears a petition challenging their authority.

Lawmakers opposing Rajapaksa had already voted on Nov. 29 to freeze his office’s spending -- and the salaries of all ministers in his government -- in a bid to crimp the new government’s ability to implement policies. That was the third straight parliamentary vote to go against the former president, who ruled between 2005 and 2015.

Sirisena originally suspended parliament, then tried to dissolve the legislature entirely for fresh elections - - a move that was blocked by the Supreme Court to decide on its legality.

Sirisena had said he would be willing to appoint a new leader from Wickremesinghe’s party, but won’t reappoint his former prime minister even if all 225 members of Sri Lanka’s parliament endorsed it.

On Wednesday 117 lawmakers voted in favor of Wickremesinghe to pass a resolution showing that he commanded the confidence of parliament to function as prime minister.

Boycotts

Rajapaksa, a former leader who has previously taken billions in Chinese loans, had rejected the appeal court’s ruling and called for general elections to end the impasse. Allies of Rajapaksa have boycotted parliament and accuse the house speaker of favoring Wickremesinghe.

On Dec. 4, Sirisena met with top bureaucrats and told them to “fulfill their respective duties and responsibilities” without disruption while the prime minister and cabinet were prevented by the court from carrying out their work. That same day, Wickremesinghe said that he was willing to face an election, but it must be conducted with the legitimate government in place.

"This has been a constitutional coup," said Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, a lawmaker for the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party, which submitted the first no-confidence vote against Rajapaksa. "The Supreme Court has taken an important step."

--With assistance from Hannah Benjamin and Andrew Monahan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anusha Ondaatjie in Colombo at anushao@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Iain Marlow

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