Sri Lanka parliament votes to halt minister’s salaries

Sri Lanka’s parliament on Friday voted to halt payment of ministers’ salaries and travel expenses. It still remains unclear how the move would impact the disputed government of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa whose ministers boycotted the vote.

The motion specifically was to prohibit top civil servants from paying out salaries and travel expenses.

The South Asian island has been suffering political crisis for over a month since President Maithripala Sirisena replaced former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with Rajapaksa, who was then twice sacked by parliament but has refused to resign.

Friday’s motion, which passed 122 to none in the 225-member parliament, follows a similar vote on Thursday to cut the budget to the Prime Minister’s office. Rajapaksa loyalists also skipped that vote, arguing the motion was invalid.

The vote is yet another moral pressure on Rajapaksa who continues to hold the office despite not having a working majority.

Wickremesinghe has insisted that his sacking is illegal and has refused to leave his official residence. Foreign countries have yet to recognize the government of Rajapaksa.

Rajapaksa loyalists also skipped the vote on Friday, arguing the motion was invalid.

“The motion to cut down the expenditures of ministers, deputy ministers, and state ministers is passed,” parliament’s speaker Karu Jayasuriya said. He earlier said he would officially inform ministry secretaries of the decision.

In a repeat of Thursday’s actions, Rajapaksa loyalists declared the vote illegal and called into question the impartiality of the speaker.

“The motion today presented is illegal and we have mentioned it to the speaker too. We will not attend such illegal motions,” Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, a minister in Rajapaksa’s disputed government, told reporters before the proceedings started.

Rajapaksa’s party argues that as the president never accepted no-confidence votes against its government, it remains in power. The motions presented on Thursday and Friday are based on the assumption they have been sacked.