Voting has now begun in the wake of the nominations of Rohini Kaviratne of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and Ajith Rajapaksa of the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna for the post of Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
Several parties have suggested that party leaders to convene and present only one name without increasing the public’s displeasure with Parliament, but this was not approved by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.
However, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party led by Maithripala Sirisena and 10 smaller parties, led by Wimal Weerawansa, have already stated that they will abstain from voting if an election is held.
