Last Tuesday, on 2 June, Sri Lanka entered a period of unconstitutional executive rule. Following its dissolution for elections on 2 March, the country’s Parliament has now been suspended for more than the three-month period specified by the Constitution. Although...
After fifty one days of political turmoil in Sri Lanka, the coup attempt that was launched on the evening of Friday 26th October has failed. Following a series of crucial judgements from Sri Lanka’s highest courts last week, which deemed President Sirisena’s...
Two checks on the Rajapaksa coup Last week began with a series of blows to Mahinda Rajapaksa’s illegal and unconstitutional power grab. After the lodging of multiple legal challenges, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court filed a temporary ‘stay order’ overturning President...
Late yesterday evening, President Sirisena issued a decree announcing that he had ‘dissolved’ Sri Lanka’s Parliament – delivering a further sledgehammer blow to the Constitution that he swore to uphold in January 2015, and veering his country further down the path...
A failing coup? The past week saw intense political manoeuvring in Sri Lanka, as efforts by Mahinda Rajapaksa to obtain command of a majority in Parliament continued. Despite the ‘crossing over’ of a handful of MPs, which further narrowed the gap between the two main...
