No-faith motion against govt defeated

• JVP, UPFA voted in favour, UNP and TNA voted against
• 13  members absent

y Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana 

 
The no confidence motion (NFM) against the government was defeated in Parliament yesterday by a majority of 27 votes with 92 members voting for it and 119 against.
   
The JVP, which brought the motion, SLFP members who back President Maithripala Sirisena and the joint opposition voted in favour of it while the UNP and TNA voted against. 
Altogether 13 members were absent during the time of the vote. Among them were ruling party MP V. Radhakrishnan who was out of the country, TNA MP Sivashakthi Anandan, UPFA MPs Duminda Dissanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, and UNP MPs who crossed over to the UPFA after the momentary change of government on October 26 last year Asoka Priyantha, Dunesh Gangkanda, S. B. Navina and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe while MPs Arumugam Thondaman and Douglas Devananda were also missing.   

TNA Leader R Sampanthan said they would vote in favour of the government despite protests by Tamil youth near his house in Trincomalee asking him to vote in favour of the motion. He said his party will vote against the motion as they were not sure as to what kind of government would take over in the event the present regime was defeated yesterday.   

UPFA and SLFP MPs said JVP should have brought the motion much earlier. They were of the opinion the JVP should not have worked towards defeating the 52-day government which was formed on October 26 last year.    

  The JVP, which brought the motion, SLFP members who back President Maithripala Sirisena and the joint opposition voted in favour of it while the UNP and TNA voted against. 
Altogether 13 members were absent during the time of the vote. Among them were ruling party MP V. Radhakrishnan who was out of the country, TNA MP Sivashakthi Anandan, UPFA MPs Duminda Dissanayake, Mahinda Samarasinghe, and UNP MPs who crossed over to the UPFA after the momentary change of government on October 26 last year Asoka Priyantha, Dunesh Gangkanda, S. B. Navina and Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe while MPs Arumugam Thondaman and Douglas Devananda were also missing.  TNA Leader R Sampanthan said they would vote in favour of the government despite protests by Tamil youth near his house in Trincomalee asking him to vote in favour of the motion. He said his party will vote against the motion as they were not sure as to what kind of government would take over in the event the present regime was defeated yesterday.   

UPFA and SLFP MPs said JVP should have brought the motion much earlier. They were of the opinion the JVP should not have worked towards defeating the 52-day government which was formed on October 26 last year.