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Parliament seating arrangement changes as 16 SLFPers join opposition ranks
Three of the 16 Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) members who quit the government will get front row seats on the opposition side in Parliament in terms of a new seating arrangement which comes into effect from Tuesday, the day President Maithripala Sirisena ceremonially opens a new session of Parliament.
Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian K.Turairatnasingham and Joint Opposition (JO) Parliamentarians Gamini Lokuge and C.B.Ratnayaka will move to the second row to make way for SLFP seniors S.B. Dissanayaka, John Seneviratne and Sumedha Jayasena. The three SLFP MPs, together with 13 others, quit the government after voting in support of the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on April 4.
Parliament officials said that, based on their seniority, the other 13 SLFP MPs would be allocated seats on the opposition side of the House.
There will be several other changes to the seating arrangements, with Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe who was appointed as Higher Education Minister, moving to the second row on the Government side from the back row seat where he had been seated since he quit his previous ministerial post in August, 2017.
The seat allocated to the Deputy Speaker on the second row of the government side will remain vacant till a decision is made on whether to appoint a new deputy Speaker or to continue with MP Thilanga Sumathipala in the post. He is among the 16 SLFP MPs who voted for the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, President Sirisena will open the new session of Parliament at 2.15 p.m. on Tuesday.
He will be accorded a guard of honour and a 21 gun salute as part of the ceremonial opening of Parliament, officials said. The public galleries of the House will be closed for the day with only invitees allowed to attend the ceremonial opening.
The President will address the House from the Speaker‘s Chair on Tuesday and will deliver the policy statement of the government.
The debate on the policy statement will take place on Thursday.