LANKA POLITICAL CRISIS
Uncertainty continues
Main parties petition in top court against president's decision to dissolve parliament and call for snap polls
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Chief Justice Nalin Perera decides to fast-track hearings
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Western diplomats shun govt meeting to register protest
Supporters of Sri Lanka's fired prime minister and a top election official yesterday challenged in court the president's sacking of parliament, upping the ante in a political crisis that has sparked international alarm.
President Maithripala Sirisena late Friday called snap elections and dissolved the legislature, two weeks after sacking the prime minister and installing the divisive Mahinda Rajapakse in his place.
The United States has led a chorus of international concern over events in the strategically important Indian Ocean island nation of 21 million people.
Three political parties holding an absolute majority in parliament and Ratnajeevan Hoole, an election commissioner and one of three officials tasked with conducting polls, yesterday asked the Supreme Court to declare the president's actions illegal.
The court, which heard preliminary submissions, has adjourned until today.
In the five-page petition, Hoole said Sirisena broke the law in calling the snap elections for January 5 after a string of unconstitutional moves since October 26 when he fired Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister.
Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP), the main opposition Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the leftist JVP, or People's Liberation Front challenged Sirisena's action in the court.
TNA spokesman M A Sumanthiran said the Supreme Court agreed to take up the petitions immediately considering the importance of the issue, reported AFP.
"We are also asking for an interim order" for an injunction against preparations for the election, which would be two years ahead of schedule, Sumanthiran said.
Several petitioners also asked that parliament be restored until the court has ruled on their plea.
Court officials said Chief Justice Nalin Perera and two other judges decided to fast-track the hearings. Legal experts say the dissolved parliament would have to be restored if the Supreme Court holds with the petitioners. If not, the January 5 election will have to go ahead.
Meanwhile, eight Western countries stayed away from a meeting with Sri Lanka's government yesterday to register their protest against President Maithripala Sirisena's decision to dissolve parliament, reported Reuters.