Sri Lankan President prorogues Parliament with effect from midnight

Sri Lanka's newly-elected President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday decided to prorogue Parliament with effect from midnight.

According to the extraordinary gazette issued Thursday evening, the next session will commence at 10:30 AM on August 3, 2022.

The prorogation means all current business before the House are suspended and all proceedings pending at the time are quashed except impeachments.

Committees for Special Purposes cease to function during the recess or the prorogation of Parliament and all of them have to be re-constituted at the commencement of each Session of Parliament except the Committee on High Posts, Sectoral Oversight Committees and Select Committees of Parliament.

During the prorogation the Speaker continues to function and the lawmakers retain their membership even though they do not attend meetings of Parliament.

Wickremesinghe was elected President by lawmakers on July 20 - the first such occasion since 1978.

The 73-year-old President was appointed for the rest of the term of Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled the country and resigned on July 13 in the face of a popular uprising against his government for mismanaging the island nation's economy.

Sri Lanka has seen months of mass unrest over the worst economic crisis, with the government declaring bankruptcy in mid-April by refusing to honour its international debt.