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Left parties wavering on impeachment vote
View(s):By Namini Wijedasa
Two left parties in Parliament—the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party (CP)—are undecided on how they would vote or whether they would be present in the House when the motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake is taken up on Friday.
But one left party, the Democratic Left Front (DLF) headed by National Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara, will vote in support of the motion. CP leader and Senior Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera said his party, which has been critical of the impeachment move, would take a decision after Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa makes his statement on Tuesday regarding last week’s Supreme Court determination.
LSSP leader and Senior Minister Tissa Vitharana said his party’s Central Committee would meet tomorrow to decide.
But Minister Nanayakkara said yesterday he would vote for the impeachment motion. “In my view, the Supreme Court is committing suicide resulting in undermining democracy,” he maintained. “Who will rule this country if you are going to confront Parliament?”
Mr. Nanayakkara admitted he had reservations about “the manner in which the matter was handled”.
“That is a separate issue,” he added. “On the substantive issues, the Supreme Court is on a suicidal mission and thus endangering democracy. The removal of the Chief Justice is very important and decisive because she has become a political character already.”
On January 1, the Socialist Alliance resolved that its three members in Parliament the LSSP, the CP and the DLF—should not be in the House when the vote is taken. (Others in the Alliance are the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party and the Deshavimukthi Janatha Peramuna). However, the LSSP, CP and DLF will also meet separately to decide on their individual positions.
All constituent parties of the UPFA, meanwhile, have been asked to be present in Parliament to vote for the impeachment motion. Chief Government Whip Minister Dinesh Gunewardena said even parties that might disagree with the motion have been instructed to vote in favour of it. “One can disagree and agree to vote,” he stressed. “It has happened in Parliamentary processes before, whether in Government or Opposition.”
Minister Gunewardena said MPs could air their reservations or disagreements when the Government Group met tomorrow. Asked if constituent parties had been threatened with disciplinary action if they “disobeyed”, he said, “They have not done anything yet to discuss any other issue.”
Meanwhile, party leaders will meet tomorrow to decide on the dates for the debate on the impeachment motion against Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, Parliament sources said.Although the most likely dates for the debate are January 10 and 11, they have to be formally finalised with the agreement of leaders of parties represented in Parliament.
The focus of the debate is likely to be the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) that found the Chief Justice guilty on three of the five counts it investigated although a total of 14 charges were contained in the impeachment motion signed by 116 Government MPs and submitted to Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa on November 1.
A Parliament official said so far no specific resolution seeking the removal of the Chief Justice from office on grounds of “proven misbehaviour” or “incapacity” had been submitted but this could be due to the fact that such a resolution could not be proceeded with until the expiration of one month from the date the PSC submitted its report to the House.
The PSC report was submitted to Parliament on December 8.It is only after Parliament passes by a majority vote a resolution for her removal from office that the Speaker will notify the President. The President can then make an order to remove the Chief Justice from office.
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