Sri Lanka's strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse will step down on Saturday from his disputed position of premier, his son said on Friday, signalling an end to the seven-week long power-struggle that threatened to shut the government. "To ensure stability of the nation, former president ...(Rajapakse) has decided to resign from the premiership tomorrow after an address to the nation," his legislator son Namal said.
The announcement came shortly after the Supreme Court banned Rajapakse, 73, and his purported government from exercising the powers of the office they claimed since October. A day earlier, the Supreme Court opened the way for potential impeachment proceedings against President Maithripala Sirisena ruling that he broke the law by dissolving parliament last month.
A seven-judge bench unanimously agreed that Sirisena violated the constitution when he dissolved parliament last month to prevent Rajapakse suffering a humiliating defeat on the floor of the House. Sirisena had also called a snap election nearly two years ahead of schedule. That was also cancelled by the courts.
Namal Rajapakse said they will join a coalition with Sirisena who triggered the political crisis on October 26 by initially sacking Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replacing him with former foe Rajapakse. Two of the country's highest courts suspended Rajapakse till he could prove his legitimacy after he failed two no-confidence motions in the 225-member legislature in mid-November.
The court rulings also meant that the Indian Ocean nation of 21 million people was effectively without a government and heading for a shutdown raising fears among international credit rating agencies and holders of Sri Lankan bonds. The country was taken by surprise when Sirisena sacked Wickremesinghe on October 26, almost two years before his five-year term was up and called a snap election for January 5.
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