The fight for the Parliamentary select committee

COLOMBO (News 1st): All of Sri Lanka are waiting to see what happens to the parliamentary select committees. The governing faction has nominated 7 members for the committee while the United National party nominated a number of MPs to the committee, demanding for a majority. However, the committee includes only 13 members. Karu Jayasuriya, in his capacity as Speaker, is also included in the committee. The government says that they need a majority in this select committee. However, the United National party, the main opposition, says that "as the opposition has a majority in parliament, the majority in the select committee should be held by the opposition". Why are these two factions so keen on nominating members into this committee? The rest of the select committees are appointed subsequent to the appointment of the parliamentary select committee. One of the most important among them is the "parliamentary affairs" select committee. This is what we call the 'party leaders meeting'. Those included in the committee by virtue of position;

• Speaker
• Deputy Speaker
• Deputy Chairman of Committees
• Chief Organizer of the Government
• Chief Organizer of the Opposition
• The leader of the House

The remaining 8 members are appointed by the parliamentary select committee. This is why both the opposition and the governing faction are attempting to claim a majority in this committee, so they can appoint MPs who support them to all of the other committees. In a backdrop where both the government and the opposition are demanding a majority, there is a problem on the constituency of this committee. So how will the JVP and other parties nominate their members? There is a great chance that this matter will remain unresolved after parliament convenes tomorrow (November 23).