Govt. loses its 2/3rds majority in Parliament

22 December 2014 07:51 pm Views - 950

With the defection of Minister Rishard Bathiudeen and party colleague MP Ameer Ali, the government had lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament yesterday.


 

Initially, the government had 163 seats in Parliament. With the recent crossovers, this number has now come down to 148 members, two short of the two-thirds.


 

The government, using its two-thirds majority, was able to enact the controversial 18th Amendment to the Constitution and to impeach Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. It also managed to enact ‘Divineguma Act’ infringing on powers devolved to the provincial councils.