A new Speaker to be elected today

The election of a new Speaker of Sri Lanka’s Parliament to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of MP Asoka Ranwala is due to take place today (17).

Parliament is scheduled to meet today and tomorrow, and nominations for the post of the Speaker will be submitted today.

Deputy Speaker Dr. Rizvie Salih will preside over today’s proceedings. Five new National List MPs are scheduled to be sworn in, as the first business of the day. They are Mano Ganesan, Nizam Kariapper, Sujeewa Senasinghe and Mohamed Ismail from the SJB, and Faizer Musthapha from the NDF.

Thereafter the Secretary General of Parliament will read out to the House the letter of resignation of Speaker Ranwala and announce that the House should elect a new Speaker.

Meanwhile, several names have been proposed from the ruling party for the position of Speaker of Parliament. The names include current Deputy Speaker Dr. Rizvie Salih, MP Jagath Wickramaratne, MP Lakshman Nipuna Arachchi, and MP Nihal Galappaththi, Parliament sources said.

The Opposition has stated it will also propose a name for the Speaker of Parliament.

Speaker of the Tenth Parliament, Asoka Ranwala resigned last week amidst a controversy surrounding his educational qualifications. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake accepted his resignation.