report by INFORM
( August 18, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian)
The parliamentary elections of August 2015 brought into power a
coalition government between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the
United National Party (UNP), the two major political parties that had
ruled Sri Lanka since independence from the British in 1948. This
elections reaffirmed the leader of the UNP as the Prime Minister, to
work with the leader of the SLFP who had been elected as President in
January 2015. The alliance also receives the support of major political
parties representing ethnic minorities, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress
(SLMC) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), despite the TNA leader
being the Opposition Leader. A faction of the SLFP and some smaller
parties, calling themselves “Joint Opposition”, remain loyal to defeated
former President Rajapakse and opposed to the ruling alliance. But
despite street protests and vocal outbursts over media, their strength
in parliament appears to be less than 50 out of 225, way below the
required strength to oppose even constitutional changes which requires
two thirds majority.
