President expresses his regret over the speaker's actions

COLOMBO (News 1st) - President Maithripala Sirisena in a letter to Speaker Karu Jayasuriya has noted that the speaker ignored the constitution, standing orders, and the parliamentary traditions when passing the motion of no-confidence against the government yesterday (November 14). The President expressed his regret about the action taken by Speaker to submit a letter consisting of signatures from MPs which was not certified by the Parliament. The President's letter is in response to submissions made by the Speaker to the President yesterday, of the decision of the no-confidence motion together with a copy of the document signed by MPs voting in favour of the motion. The Head of state pointed out that the Speakers actions could infringe on legal proceedings currently underway over issues connected to the Parliament. He said that he had powers under provisions to appoint a Prime Minister most likely to command the confidence of Parliament, and added there was no need or parliamentary tradition demanding that the Prime Minister had only to prove he had a majority.