2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis

2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis
Part of the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War and the 2015 Sri Lankan presidential election
Maithripala Sirisena Ranil Wickremesinghe Mahinda Rajapaksa
Date	26 October 2018 – 16 December 2018 (7 weeks and 2 days)
Location	Sri Lanka
Caused by	Dissolution of the 2015 National Unity Government Appointment of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister Sacking of incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Suspension and dissolution of Parliament
Methods	Demonstrations, occupations, general strikes
Resulted in	Ranil Wickremesinghe reappointed as Prime Minister Sudden Dismissal of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe by President Appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister by President President Sirisena suspends parliament Wickremesinghe refuses to accept dismissal and is held up at Temple Trees Appointment of a New Cabinet Allegations of bribery for cabinet positions President Sirisena dissolves Parliament and orders Election Commission to hold Parliamentary elections Supreme Court temporarily stays President's proclamation dissolving parliament. Parliament passes motion suspending the Government from spending state money Court of Appeal issues an interim order preventing Rajapaksa from functioning as Prime Minister and all other cabinet ministers in their portfolios Supreme Court finds President's act of dissolving of Parliament to be unconstitutional and illegal and that the President's order of dissolving parliament was overturned Supreme Court confirms the Court of Appeal interim order restricting the functions of the Prime Minister's office Mahinda Rajapaksa backs down from claiming Prime Ministership Ranil Wickremesinghe is reinstated as Prime Minister
Parties
Legislative branch United National Party Tamil National Alliance Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Tamil Progressive Alliance All Ceylon Makkal Congress Pro UNP-Ranil protesters Pro Democracy protesters Executive branch Office of the President Sri Lanka Police Sri Lanka Freedom Party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Eelam People's Democratic Party Pro Sirisena-Rajapaksa rallies
Lead figures
Ranil Wickremesinghe Karu Jayasuriya Maithripala Sirisena Mahinda Rajapaksa
Casualties
Death(s)	1[1][2]
Injuries	3[1]
Arrested	2[2]

A constitutional crisis began in Sri Lanka when President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former president and member of parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 before formally dismissing the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, resulting in two concurrent Prime Ministers. Wickremesinghe and the United National Party (UNP) viewed the appointment as illegal, and he refused to resign.^[3]

Sirisena's sudden decision instigated "political turmoil in the country", and drew international criticism.^[4][2][5] Wickremesinghe, the majority of the parliament, and opposition parties refused to acknowledge his removal and the appointment of Rajapaksa, stating that Sirisena's move was unconstitutional.^[6][7] Wickremesinghe claimed that he still commands a majority in parliament and requested that Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya convene parliament immediately.^[8] Sirisena ignored all calls to reconvene parliament and on 27 October prorogued parliament, delaying its meeting till 16 November.^[9] After an attempt to form a new cabinet of ministers with Rajapaksa as Prime Minister failed, Sirisena attempted to dissolve parliament on 9 November. The UNP declared the move unconstitutional and subsequently the Supreme Court stayed Sirisena's dissolution until December 2018, when it ruled that the move was unconstitutional and illegal.^[10][11] Rajapaksa backed down from claiming the office and Wickremesinghe was once again reinstated, ending the crisis after 7 weeks of political and economic turmoil.

The roots of the crisis date back to the late Rajapaksa presidency. After the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Rajapaksa's presidency had become increasingly authoritarian.^[1] During his time in office, President Rajapaksa had expanded the power of the presidency significantly and strenghtened ties with China.^[12] He and his close family have been accused of and are currently under investigation for corruption,^[2][13] and the former president has also been accused of war crimes and human rights violations.^[14]

The crisis was triggered by a false allegation of an assassination plot against President Sirisena. The crisis lasted seven weeks and had a lasting political and economic impact on the country.^[15][16] Due to the fragile Sri Lankan economy the crisis cost the country a billion US dollars in reserves, dropping from $7.991 billion in forex reserves to $6.985 billion.^[17] The Sri Lankan rupee ultimately devalued by 3.8% during the same time, while US$312.9 million, in the form of treasury bonds, and US$29.8 million in the form of treasury bills left the country.^[17][18] Sri Lanka's credit was also downgraded as a result of the crisis,^[19][20] while the United States and Japanese governments froze more than a billion US dollars worth of development aid. November saw industrial activity in Sri Lanka slow as a result of the crisis, falling 3.7% from October to November, the largest seen since it began in 2016.^[21]