Sri Lanka's parliament session to commence on May 4 amid economic crisis

As per reports, on Wednesday, the parliament session will witness an election of the Deputy Speaker, after the resignation of Ranjith Siyambalapitiya from the designation on April 30.   

Amid the ongoing economic crisis in the island nation, Sri Lanka's parliament is all set to commence on Wednesday. The session might witness a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sajith Premadasa, Sri Lanka's opposition leader, and Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), on Saturday, stated that there will be a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, during the country's next session of parliament.

On April 11, Premadasa signed the impeachment and no-confidence motions against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the administration.

As per reports, on Wednesday, the parliament session will witness an election of the Deputy Speaker, after the resignation of Ranjith Siyambalapitiya from the designation on April 30. 

Following the party's decision, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) MP Ranjith Siyambalapitiya decided to quit as a Deputy Speaker, was one of the government's coalition partners, and withdraw his support for the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led government.

Sri Lanka is witnessing its greatest economic crisis since independence, with food and fuel shortages, increasing prices, and power outages affecting a large number of people, sparking widespread protests against the government's response.

The economic crisis is due to a shortage of foreign exchange caused by a drop in tourists during the COVID 19 pandemic and the government's move to ban chemical fertilizer last year, to make it 100 per cent organic. 

Due to the acute shortage of Foreign exchange, Sri Lanka recently defaulted on the entirety of its foreign debt amounting to about USD 51 billion.

This economic crisis caused many protests and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.