Basil’s Hope Shattered by Geetha’s Judgement

The 19th Amendment to the Srilanka Constitution clearly states that any national, who also holds citizenship of another country cannot hold an elected office in Srilanka. Actress Geetha Kumaratunga was unseated by an appeal court verdict, which she has challenged in the Supreme Court.

Party sources said ,Basil Rajapaksa’s hopes had been raised on May 15, when a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court in a majority decision granted Kumarasinghe more time to remain in parliament. The interim order had raised hopes of SLPP leader Basil Rajapaksa, who launched the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) after breaking away from the old-established Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to come back to active politics.

The Supreme Court verdict is a big blow to Basil Rajapakshe, who told the BBC recently that he will never give up his US citizenship and claimed that voters of the Gampaha district had supported him with some 425,000 preferential votes despite his US nationality. Further he said, that he is not ready to give up his US citizenship. His children and family are there in the United States. He entered politics with US citizenship in Srilanka, In other words, he won’t give up US citizenship.