New Speaker Elected by Sri Lankan Parliament
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Colombo, Dec 17 (NationPress) The Sri Lankan Parliament has unanimously elected Jagath Wickramaratne, a member of the ruling National People's Power (NPP), as its new Speaker on Tuesday.
Wickramaratne was proposed by Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya, with the backing of Leader of the House Bimal Ratnayake.
No alternative candidates were suggested, and Deputy Speaker Rizvie Salih informed the assembly that Wickramaratne was appointed unanimously, as reported by Xinhua news agency.
The previous Speaker, Asoka Sapumal Ranwala, resigned on December 13 following controversy regarding his educational credentials.
Opposition factions had accused Ranwala of falsely claiming to possess a PhD from a university in Japan.
In response, Ranwala stated that he never misrepresented his academic qualifications but acknowledged that he currently does not have documentation to support his claims.
He mentioned that he received a doctorate from a research institute associated with Waseda University in Japan and is hopeful to provide the degree certificate in the future.
“However, due to the confusion surrounding this matter and to avoid causing embarrassment to those who supported and voted for this administration, I have opted to resign from my position as Speaker for the time being,” Ranwala expressed.
This resignation occurred amid an effort by the opposition to initiate a no-confidence motion against the Speaker for allegedly misleading the public regarding his educational background.
Ranwala was among the 159 members of the National People's Power (NPP) who were elected following the party's significant victory in the November 14 parliamentary elections.
He had served for less than a month after taking office as Speaker on November 21.
Prior to this role, Ranwala was a prominent trade union leader for the NPP's parent party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), in the petroleum sector while working for the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation.
