: Ahead of next month’s snap polls, Sri lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Wednesday suffered another political setback as he lost his government’s two-thirds majority in Parliament after two ministers from parties representing Indian-origin Tamils defected to the opposition. Palani Digambaram and V Radhakrishnan, both from parties representing Tamils of Indian-origin, said they were leaving the government to side with the opposition unity candidate Maithripala Sirisena.
Rajapaksa is seeking a record-third term after announcing snap polls set for January 8. Rajapaksa’s ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance coalition had 161 seats in the 225-member assembly. The tally now stands at 149, a seat below the two-thirds parliamentary majority. Since calling the election, the lankan president has suffered a loss of 13 defections so far. Rajapaksa, however, has been able to gain the support of the main opposition United National Party’s senior leader Tissa Attanayake.