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The United National Party (UNP) mustered sufficient votes to defeat a ‘No-Confidence’ Motion (NCM) against its Party leader and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday, putting an end to days of speculation whether he would survive moves to oust him from the post.

The NCM, brought by the Joint Opposition (JO) group in Parliament, was defeated, with 122 MPs voting against it and 76 in favour, while 26 MPs were absent during the vote on Wednesday night, after nearly 12 hours of debate.

Most of the charges against the Premier were linked to the Central Bank (CB) Bond scam, starting with his decision to take the CB away from the purview of the Ministry of Finance and bring it under him, as well as for proposing Arjuna Mahendran to the post of CB Governor.

JO Parliamentary Group Leader and UPFA MP Dinesh Gunawardena opened the debate on the NCM. However, given that, details related to the Bond affair have been exhausted to such an extent by now, by both politicians and the media, he had little new to add on the matter. MP Dulles Allahaperuma who seconded the NCM too, faced the same conundrum, thus kicking off a debate that lacked lustre and thrall.

JVP MP Bimal Ratnayake, whose party voted in favour of the NCM, used the debate to not only lambaste the Premier, but also expose the lack of effort made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to win over sufficient MPs to pass the NCM.

“Those interested in bringing this, belong to the “‘Gotabaya kalliya” (gang) in the JO, which is backed by President Maithripala Sirisena,” he alleged.

The JVP MP pointed out that the JO had put more effort into securing power in local councils, than in ousting the Premier. “The former president did not even sign this NCM. JO MPs are saying this Government is ruining the country but, if this is truly the case, why didn’t it put in any real effort into winning this?” he asked.

Sponsors of the NCM speak to the media after defeat of vote. Pic by Indika Handuwala

The JVP lawmaker said the Premier, for his part, had betrayed the trust of those who voted for him in 2015. “He was elected to power to punish those responsible for the irregularities. Many young UNP MPs elected to Parliament for the first time, came here with much idealism, but they too, have been betrayed by the UNP leader,” he said.

R. Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which voted against the NCM, said that, while the NCM seeks to implicate the Premier with the Bond scam, the charges are general and vague in nature, and indicative more of the pursuit of a political agenda, rather than fixing responsibility with regard to the Bond scam.

“It could be that the Premier is facing this situation because of the confidence he placed in someone who has now betrayed him. But, where is the evidence or charge against the Premier of involvement in the Bond scam per se? Is the wording of the NCM so loose and so general because of the lack of specific material against the Premier, with regard to the Bond scam? And, if that is so, the NCM lacks credibility,” he said.

Despite speculation that some UNP members would break ranks and vote in favour of the NCM, all of them rallied behind the Premier and voted against the NCM.

Along with the JO MPs, 13 SLFP members, including six ministers, voted for the NCM. Soon after the vote, the Premier met briefly with with the entire UNP Parliamentary Group, to thank them and promised “not to forget” those who stood by him.

But, overcoming the NCM may only be the beginning of more problems for the Government of National Unity. While the UNP leader wants to continue with the SLFP MPs who were absent during the vote, as part of the Government, those who voted in favour are determined to cling on to their portfolios.

The rank and file of the UNP seems to be in no mood to tolerate those who did not back the Premier on Wednesday, and moved quickly to hand over 7 NCMs – 1 against Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala and 6 against the SLFP Cabinet ministers, to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya.

Given the level of hostility between the UNP MPs and this group of SLFP members, a continuation of this Government, with them in it, will only lead to more confusion in the country, and hinder any progress. While the President and the Prime Minister are likely to put on brave faces and continue their mantra on their determination to fulfill the 2015 mandate, continuation of this arrangement will only subject them to more public ridicule and enable their political opponents to endear themselves to the voters, come the next election.