Sri Lanka's shaky coalition government on Friday won parliamentary approval for the island's biggest ever war budget, despite a series of defections to the opposition.
Parliament voted 114 to 67 in favour of the 2008 budget unveiled last month by President Mahinda Rajapakse, and which has allocated 166.44 billion rupees (1.51 billion dollars) for defence amid an upsurge in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.
Prior to the vote, there were anxious moments in the 225-member assembly when national heritage minister Anura Bandaranaike crossed the floor of the house. "Minister Bandaranaike was unhappy with the government's handling of the economy as well as the peace process," a source close to Bandaranaike said.
The defection came two days after a similar move by four coalition members, and further trimmed what is on paper a slender majority for the rainbow coalition.