Two Sri Lankan Deputy Ministers from parties representing Tamils of Indian-origin left President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition on Wednesday to back common opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena.
Palani Digambaram and V. Radhakrishnan, who took charge as Deputy Ministers a couple of months ago, said they left the Rajapaksa government as he failed to fulfil promises made to the plantation Tamils.
Two-thirds majorityWith the two MPs defecting to the opposition camp, the total number of crossovers to the joint platform stands at 13.
Mr. Rajapaksa’s ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance coalition recently gained two parliamentarians from the joint opposition platform.
Wednesday’s defections has also threatened President Rajapaksa’s two-thirds majority in the 225-member Parliament. He was left with only 150 MPs, including the Speaker, after the net loss of 11 parliamentarians from the time he called for presidential polls.
The joint opposition would give top priority to housing, education needs and health facilities for the plantation Tamils, working predominantly in tea and rubber estates in central Sri Lanka, opposition Leader Ranil Wickramasing said at a press conference on Wednesday. The Ceylon Workers’ Congress, which has a considerable support base among Indian-origin Tamils, earlier pledged its support to the incumbent President.
President Rajapaksa is seeking a record third term in the January 8 elections, while his principal challenger Mr. Sirisena has pledged to abolish executive presidency if elected to power.
Meanwhile, the International Crisis Group (ICG), an international NGO working in the area of conflict-prevention, has warned of election related violence in Sri Lanka.
“Should Sirisena win the vote, the President and his brothers could find other means to retain power, including resorting to the politically-compliant Supreme Court to invalidate the result, or using the military as a last resort,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
The ICG, in what it termed a “volatile pre-election context”, said that foreign governments and international institutions concerned with Sri Lanka’s long-term stability — China, India, Japan, U.S., the U.N., European Union, World Bank and Asian Development Bank — should seek to limit the risks of serious political violence, before, during and after the election.
