Severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials -- along with record inflation and crippling power cuts have inflicted widespread misery across the island nation, which is enduring its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's parliament will convene on Tuesday in its first session since a state of emergency was imposed as the country grapples with protests and mounting demands for the president's resignation over a worsening economic crisis.
The state of emergency is due to expire on Thursday next week unless it is ratified in a parliamentary vote. "Our party no longer has a mandate to govern," former minister Nimal Lanza told reporters in the town of Negombo, adding that about 50 lawmakers previously allied with the government would instead sit as independents.
"We will not be joining this government," Eran Wickramaratne of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party told AFP. "The Rajapaksa family must step down." However, Wickramaratne told AFP on Monday that the opposition would not be voting for the emergency orders. "We'll see what happens tomorrow, it is going to be a decisive day."
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