MP’s party membership is for Courts to decide – Speaker

 DEC 29 2018

The position of the Leader of the Opposition in the legislature is appointed as per the Standing Orders of the Parliament and the question of whether a Parliamentarian holds the membership of a certain political party or not is a matter for the Courts to decide, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said.

These views were aired by Jayasuriya when he met the chief representatives of the multi-religious summit at the Speaker’s official residence on 26 December.

Explaining further about the post of the Opposition Leader, Jayasuriya added that while Tamil National Alliance Leader R. Sampanthan had always acted on behalf of the country as a mature and respected leader, it was as per the Standing Orders of the Parliament that he as the Speaker had announced his decision regarding the Opposition Leader post.

He further added that the question of whether a certain person possessed a particular political party’s membership or not was a question to be decided by the Courts and that he as the Speaker need not intervene in this regard.