No-trust motion against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa defeated

Colombo, May 17

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A no-confidence motion tabled by the Opposition against Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was defeated in Parliament on Tuesday, in a comfortable win for the embattled President amid nationwide protests demanding his resignation due to the country’s worst-ever economic crisis.

The motion by Opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP MA Sumanthiran to suspend Parliament’s standing orders in order to debate an expression of displeasure over President Rajapaksa was defeated with 119 MPs voting against it, a newspaper reported. Only 68 MPs voted in favour of the motion, it said, giving the 72-year-old President a comfortable victory. With the motion, the Opposition sought to demonstrate how nationwide calls for President’s resignation are reflected in the country’s legislature, the report said. The main Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya MP Lakshman Kiriella had supported the motion.