Speaker likely to remain until polls

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya is likely to continue in his post until the next General Election, Government sources said yesterday.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who met the Speaker when they paid their last respects to former Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne, who was kept Lying-in-State in the Assembly Hall of Parliament last Friday, requested Jayasuriya to stay on in the post.



If the present Speaker steps down, a new Speaker would have to be elected through a secret ballot unless it was by unanimous decision. The United People’s Freedom Alliance, which has 95 seats in the 225-seat Legislature, is unlikely to secure a majority to have a Speaker of their choice elected if it goes to a vote.