Sri Lankan president to summon parliament on Nov 5

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse, on Thursday said that President Maithripala Sirisena had decided to convene Parliament on Nov 5 to settle the ongoing political crisis.

Speaking at an event at the Presidential Secretariat, Rajapakse said the president had informed him of his decision.

The move comes after Speaker of Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, met Sirisena on Wednesday and urged him to convene parliament to solve the ongoing political crisis which erupted after Sirisena appointed Rajapakse as the prime minister, sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe from the post last Friday.

Jayasuriya said he had received the signature of 125 legislators, urging him to convene parliament to vote as to which party had the majority support in Parliament.

Sirisena had last Saturday prorogued parliament till Nov 16.