SRI LANKA: PRESIDENT PROROGUES PARLIAMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L COLOMBO 000449 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/08/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM CE SUBJECT: SRI LANKA: PRESIDENT PROROGUES PARLIAMENT REF: COLOMBO 448 Classified By: Ambassador Robert O. Blake, Jr., for reasons 1.4(b,d). ¶1. (C) On May 6, President Rajapaksa abruptly prorogued (suspended) Parliament until June 5. All parliamentary committees must be reconstituted and pending legislation must be re-introduced when Parliament reconvenes. Presidential advisor Basil Rajapaksa and Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga publicly defended the move, saying that Parliament has convened without interruption for almost four years. Opposition parties, including the UNP, JVP, and SLMC, have strongly protested the prorogation and accused the GSL of ulterior motives, claiming that the government seeks to deny opposition MPs a forum to express concern over electoral abuses. The UNP's Colombo district parliamentarian Ravi Karunanayake said the government's intention was "to unleash and cover up malpractices in the forthcoming (Eastern Provincial Council) elections." Moreover, they claim, if the government suffers a defeat in the May 10 polls, opposition MPs will be denied a forum to claim that the Rajapaksa administration has lost power in the country. ¶2. (C) In a private meeting with Basil Rajapaksa on May 7, Ambassador expressed concern that the timing of the prorogation has elicited fears that it is linked to the May 10 elections in the Eastern Province. Rajapaksa explained that Parliament should typically be prorogued once each year but has not been since 2004. The prorogue was initially scheduled for late 2007 but has been repeatedly postponed. He justified the timing of the prorogue, citing the number of MPs currently away from the capital campaigning and the upcoming local holidays. He also noted that this would give the Parliament time to restructure its committees following the election results and take into account changes in responsibilities since 2004, many of them caused by the LTTE's assassination of Parliamentary members. ¶3. (C) Ambassador also met with Minister of Export Development and International Trade G.L. Peiris on May 7. Peiris, like Rajapaksa, focused on all the parliamentary committees that need to be restructured because of resignations (e.g. SLMC MP Rauff Hakeem, who headed the Committee on Public Accounts) and deaths (e.g. former Government Chief Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, who was killed by the LTTE on April 6). Peiris said the President is also hoping to use the reconvening of Parliament to make a major speech. ¶4. (U) In addition, two parliamentary committees, the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and the Committee on Public Accounts (CPA),which have key roles in government accountability, recently lost their chairmen. COPE was established to probe mismanagement in government institutions, and published two sets of critical reports in 2007 on fraud and abuse. Last year the President, amidst severe criticism, appointed Basil Rajapaksa to COPE. The chairman of COPE, Wijedasa Rajapaksa, crossed over from the government to the opposition UNP. In addition, Rauff Hakeem abandoned his post as head of the CPA when he left the government on April 1 to contest the Eastern Provincial Council elections. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Post assesses that the timing of the prorogation is suspect (reftel). Opposition MPs are justified in protesting that it will constrain discussion on the conduct and result of the elections. We will be closely watching the reformation of the key government oversight committees, and will urge that the government not use the prorogation as a means to stack the committees with its supporters. BLAKE