New Parliament convened; speaker and others elected

The new parliament of Sri Lanka was convened on Thursday (November 21, 2024) for the first session after the ruling NPP’s historic electoral landslide victory a week ago.

At the start of the new session of the 10th parliament since 1978, the National People’s Power’s (NPP) Ashoka Ranwala was elected house speaker, while Rizwie Salih was elected deputy speaker.

Himali Weerasekera, a female member, was elected the committee’s deputy chairman.

The significant feature of the appointment was that all three elected to the high offices were first-time parliament members, unprecedented in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary history.

Speaker Ranwala, a chemical engineer, represents the NPP’s elevation to the highest office through decades of public agitations.

He was a trade union leader in the state fuel entity, CPC, and organization, often hit by leftist trade union activism.

The NPP created history in the November 14 election by winning 159 seats in the 225-member assembly, and a majority of the members elected from both government and opposition were first-time members.

This represents the first time a government won two-thirds control or over 150 seats in a parliamentary election held since 1989.

After the ceremonial appointments of the three parliamentary appointments, an announcement was made that Sajith Premadasa from the main opposition had been recognized as the opposition leader.

The House was then adjourned to be reconvened so that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake could present his policy statement.

The president is constitutionally empowered to chair the opening sessions of the assembly.