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Parliament slams Sri Lankan president

Sri Lanka's power struggle deepened yesterday as parliament reopened after a forced two-week shutdown and declared that its suspension by a hostile president was undemocratic and illegal.

Speaker Joseph Michael Perera said the legislature could disregard President Chandrika Kumaratunga if she ordered another suspension to paralyze the work of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government.

Perera read out his five-page ruling amid angry protests from members of parliament (MPs) of Kumaratunga's party, which is the main opposition, and the president's emerging Marxist ally, the JVP, or People's Liberation Front.

Kumaratunga suspended parliament after sacking three ministers on Nov. 4. At the same time her office said a state of emergency was also imposed but denied it three days later.

Her action led Norway to suspend its mediation role to end Sri Lanka's three-decade ethnic war until there was "clarity" on who was in charge in Colombo.

"The sudden prorogation done ... without the support of any valid reason and against the wishes of the parliament can only be described as an act to deliberately prevent due functioning of parliament," Perera said, adding he hoped it would not "set an unhealthy precedent for the future."

Perera is from Wickremesinghe's United National Party, but the office of the speaker is officially neutral. His rulings are binding on the legislature and cannot be challenged in court.

He cited precedents in fellow Commonwealth nations Australia, Britain, India and New Zealand and said no parliament in the world had been suspended by an executive without the agreement of the prime minister. He noted that under the French system, the president could summon parliament, but not prorogue it without the consent of the prime minister.

Kumaratunga's action also went against democracy, he said, and warned that a lack of cooperation between the president and parliament could lead to a crippling of the entire government.

"When different parties hold power in these two branches it is essential, if the expectations of the people are to be fulfilled, for both these branches of government to act in cooperation," he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the president to the challenge to her authority, but Kumaratunga's party said it would move to bring a no-trust vote against the speaker.

"What the speaker has done is unconstitutional," opposition legislator Nimal Siripala de Silva told reporters.
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