2018 Sri Lankan constitutional crisis

A constitutional crisis began in Sri Lanka when President Maithripala Sirisena appointed former president and member of parliament Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister on 26 October 2018 before formally dismissing the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, resulting in two concurrent Prime Ministers. Wickremesinghe and the United National Party (UNP) viewed the appointment as illegal, and he refused to resign.

Sirisena's sudden decision instigated "political turmoil in the country", and drew international criticism. Wickremesinghe, the majority of the parliament, and opposition parties refused to acknowledge his removal and the appointment of Rajapaksa, stating that Sirisena's move was unconstitutional. Wickremesinghe claimed that he still commands a majority in parliament and requested that Speaker of the Parliament Karu Jayasuriya convene parliament immediately. Sirisena ignored all calls to reconvene parliament and on 27 October prorogued parliament, delaying its meeting till 16 November. After an attempt to form a new cabinet of ministers with Rajapaksa as Prime Minister failed, Sirisena attempted to dissolve parliament on 9 November. The UNP declared the move unconstitutional and subsequently the Supreme Court stayed Sirisena's dissolution until December 2018, when it ruled that the move was unconstitutional and illegal. Rajapaksa backed down from claiming the office and Wickremesinghe was once again reinstated, ending the crisis after 7 weeks of political and economic turmoil.

The roots of the crisis date back to the late Rajapaksa presidency. After the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Rajapaksa's presidency had become increasingly authoritarian. During his time in office, President Rajapaksa had expanded the power of the presidency significantly and strenghtened ties with China. He and his close family have been accused of and are currently under investigation for corruption, and the former president has also been accused of war crimes and human rights violations.

The crisis was triggered by a false allegation of an assassination plot against President Sirisena. The crisis lasted seven weeks and had a lasting political and economic impact on the country. Due to the fragile Sri Lankan economy the crisis cost the country a billion US dollars in reserves, dropping from $7.991 billion in forex reserves to $6.985 billion. The Sri Lankan rupee ultimately devalued by 3.8% during the same time, while US$312.9 million, in the form of treasury bonds, and US$29.8 million in the form of treasury bills left the country. Sri Lanka's credit was also downgraded as a result of the crisis, while the United States and Japanese governments froze more than a billion US dollars worth of development aid. November saw industrial activity in Sri Lanka slow as a result of the crisis, falling 3.7% from October to November, the largest seen since it began in 2016.