In huge blow to President Maithripala Sirisena, Sri Lanka Parliament votes against Mahinda Rajapaksa government

The Mahinda Rajapaksa govt has lost majority in Sri Lankan Parliament.

COLOMBO: In a huge blow to President Maithripala Sirisena, the Sri Lankan Parliament voted against the newly-appointed government led by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa in a landmark vote on Wednesday.

The Parliament has approved a no-trust vote against Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya said in the House.

"According to the voice, I recognise that the government has no majority," Jayasuriya said amid protests from Rajapaksa supporters.

On Tuesday, the island nation's Supreme Court had overturned President Maithripala Sirisena's dissolution of Parliament and ordered a halt to preparations for snap elections on January 5.

A three-member bench including the country's chief justice Nalin Perera delivered its ruling after two days of deliberations on as many as 13 petitions against and five for Sirisena's November 9 decision to dissolve Parliament.

All petitions filed against Sirisena's decision will now be heard on December 4, 5 and 6, the apex court ruled.

The petitioners included a member of the independent election commission Ratnajeevan Hoole.

President Sirisena had dissolved the Parliament and ordered snap polls on January 5, plunging the country's into an unprecedented political and constitutional crises since October 26 when he sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa.