Sri Lanka Crisis: President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's Party Loses Majority After 42 MPs Quit Alliance

Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst financial crisis, with citizens facing long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials.

Sri Lankans protest against the surge in prices and shortage of fuel and other essential commodities (Getty Images)

New Delhi: In another setback to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 42 MPs left his coalition government on Tuesday as the island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis.

MPs from parties that had an alliance with Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna-led coalition said they would now independently represent themselves, BBC reported. This means that Rajapaksa's SLPP has lost its majority in Parliament.

However, the MPs have not extended support to the opposition.

Among the 42 MPs, 14 are from Sri Lanka Freedom Party, nine from SLPP, two from Ceylon Workers’ Congress, one from All Ceylon Makkal Congress and 16 from the eleven constituent parties of the government.

READ | Crisis In Sri Lanka Deepens, Health Emergency Declared As Doctors Blame Govt For Breakdown

The ruling alliance had won 146 seats in the 225-member Parliament in the 2020 general election.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst financial crisis, with citizens facing long hours of power outages and scarcity of essentials. This has triggered widespread protests, prompting the government to declare an emergency and impose curfew. The 36-hour weekend curfew was lifted on Monday.

The Sri Lankan government has also blocked Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Viber, TikTok, Snapchat, IMO and Telegram. However, the government restored access to the social media platforms after sharp criticism.

On Sunday, all 26 Cabinet Ministers submitted their resignation due to the unrest in the island nation. However, the president and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, have so far refused to step down.

On Monday, the president fired his brother and finance minister Basil Rajapaksa from his post and called on opposition parties to help him form a national government and accept cabinet portfolios. They have all refused and reiterated demands for him to resign.

"What the people want is for this president and the entire government to step down," BBC quoted Sajith Premadasa, leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, Sri Lanka's main opposition alliance, as saying.

Earlier in the day, deputy Speaker Ranjith Siyambalapitiya resigned as Parliament reconvened for the first time after the state of emergency was declared in Sri Lanka.

Dollar crunch, mainly due to excessive foreign borrowings, is believed to have led to Sri Lanka's massive economic downfall.