COLOMBO
\nSri Lanka\u2019s parliament will convene Tuesday in its first session since a state of emergency was imposed as the country grapples with protests and mounting demands for the president\u2019s resignation over a worsening economic crisis.
\nSevere shortages of food, fuel and other essentials — along with record inflation and crippling power cuts — have inflicted widespread misery across the island nation, which is enduring its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
\nPresident Gotabaya Rajapaksa\u2019s once-powerful SLPP ruling coalition suffered a string of defections ahead of the parliamentary session, undermining his ability to ratify a state of emergency imposed on Friday to quell the growing public protests.
\nThe state of emergency is due to expire on Thursday next week unless it is ratified in a parliamentary vote.
\nAs parliament reconvenes, the speaker is obliged to officially inform MPs that the state of emergency has been declared, raising the prospect of opposition demands it be put to a vote immediately — which the government would likely lose.
\nAll opposition parties and even some lawmakers from Rajapaksa\u2019s own party have announced their intention to vote against extending the ordinance.
\n\u201cOur party no longer has a mandate to govern,\u201d former minister Nimal Lanza told reporters in the town of Negombo, adding that about 50 lawmakers previously allied with the government would instead sit as independents.
\nEvery member of Sri Lanka\u2019s cabinet except the president and his elder brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, resigned late on Sunday.
\nBut an overture to opposition parties requesting their participation in a unity government was swiftly rejected the next day.
\n\u201cWe will not be joining this government,\u201d Eran Wickramaratne of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party told AFP. \u201cThe Rajapaksa family must step down.\u201d
\nBoisterous demonstrations have spread across the country of 22 million despite emergency laws allowing troops to detain participants and a weekend curfew that lapsed on Monday morning.
\nCrowds have attempted to storm the homes of over a dozen government figures including the president\u2019s house in Colombo, where protesters torched the vehicles of security forces, who responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas
\nHowever, Wickramaratne told AFP on Monday that the opposition would not be voting for the emergency orders. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens tomorrow, it is going to be a decisive day.\u201d
\nA critical lack of foreign currency has left Sri Lanka struggling to service its ballooning $51 billion foreign debt, with the pandemic torpedoing vital revenue from tourism and remittances.
\nThe result has seen unprecedented food and fuel shortages along with record inflation and crippling power cuts, with no sign of an end to the economic woes.
\nEconomists say Sri Lanka\u2019s crisis has been exacerbated by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing and ill-advised tax cuts.
\nThe government plans to negotiate an IMF bailout, but talks are yet to begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLOMBO Sri Lanka\u2019s parliament will convene Tuesday in its first session since a state of emergency was imposed as the country grapples with protests and mounting demands for the president\u2019s resignation over a worsening economic crisis. Severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials — along with record inflation and crippling power cuts — have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253185","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n