Current Parliament is a distorted reflection of the people’s will: AKD

• Any Government formed now has no legitimacy to remain for long; General Elections must be called 
• Do not believe MPs were not bought over in this vote in Parliament as well 
• Thinking that this election reflects will of the people is a mere fallacy 

National People’s Power (NPP) Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayaka slammed the election of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Sri Lanka’s new President, saying it was evidence enough to show that the current Parliament is a distorted reflection of the people’s will. 

Dissanayaka’s speech in Parliament after the announcement of Wickremesinghe’s victory at the secret ballot yesterday, while congratulating Wickremesinghe, said the result was neither unexpected nor shocking. “This is the quality of the current Parliament’s composition,” he said. 

“However, I strongly believe the composition shown by these numbers inside Parliament is not the composition on the ground. If anyone believes this result is a fair reflection of the people’s will, then it is a mere fallacy,” he added. Dissanayaka told the Parliament there is a major disparity between the people and the house of Parliament. “But I did not expect anything better from this Parliament,” he said. 

Dissanayaka revealed that discussions were held with many parties when the need to appoint a new President arose. He said the NPP proposed to choose a President and Prime Minister who are not connected to a future political power-grabbing project. 

Dissanayaka said the names of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M.A. Sumanthiran representing the North were proposed for the post of Prime Minister while it was also suggested that a female MP be appointed as President. Noting that such an exemplary situation cannot be created through a regular election, Dissanayaka said this would have been the ideal solution to the crisis in order to regain the respect and trust of the people.

“We were ready to accept ministerial positions of responsibility in a Government so created for a short period of time” he added. But according to him, these proposals were defeated due to the conditions relating to appointing those not connected to a future plan to grab power and limiting the cabinet to just ten slots. “Despite attempting to engage, contribute and support these changes, we were unsuccessful” he admitted. 

Taking a dig at those nominated as candidates for the Presidential race Dissanayaka called the choices a ‘wonderful combination’. 

“On one hand the SLPP treasurer was nominated by the SJB leader and was confirmed by the SLPP’s Prof. G.L Peiris. We can therefore call this the SLPP faction of its Chairman. Then on the other hand Dinesh Gunawardene hailing from a leftist family of politicians nominated his childhood friend, the leader of the UNP for the candidacy. That appears to be the SLPP general secretary’s faction. There also appears to be a cat’s paw behind the general secretary but that is politics.” he said. 

Dissanayaka said the election was a competition between these two camps, adding that he, according to his party’s unique political ideologies and policies, also put forward his candidacy after their proposals were defeated. “But I already knew the end result would be this,” he said. 

“Many controversial things have happened within this Parliament. Various factions announced their support to various candidates but did they not stick to their decisions due to policy matters?” he asked. Dissanayaka said he believes the MPs do not stick to their words due to other reasons not related to policies. 

“We have seen MPs being bought-over at critical junctures as history would show. The same happened this time around,” he alleged. “This is an unethical Parliament full of unethical people. I do not believe these unethical practices did not happen in this election as well. I say this as it must be recorded as part of history,” he said. 

He further noted that the Parliament is no longer a reflection of the people’s will and therefore the next step should be to call for General Elections as any Government so formed has no legitimacy to remain in power for a long period. 

However, Dissanayaka also noted it appears that a strong Opposition political camp has now been created in Parliament. “I think that this election result shows a strong determination and desire to engage with that camp ideologically and actively in order to change it. We are ready to accept that challenge,” he said.