On 20 August 2015, the central committee of the
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the main constituent party of the UPFA, agreed to form a national government with the UNP for two years.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, leader of the UNP, was sworn in as
Prime Minister on 21 August 2015. Immediately afterwards, a
memorandum of understanding to work together in Parliament was signed by acting SLFP general secretary
Duminda Dissanayake and UNP general secretary
Kabir Hashim. On 3 September, Parliament voted by 143 votes (101 UNFGG, 40 UPFA, 1 EPDP, 1 SLMC) to 16 votes (11 UPFA, 5 JVP), with 63 absent (43 UPFA, 16 TNA, 3 UNFGG, 1 JVP), to approve the formation of a national government. Three UNFGG cabinet ministers were sworn in on 24 August 2015. A further 39 cabinet ministers, 28 from the UNFGG and 11 from the UPFA, were sworn in on 4 September 2015. Three more cabinet ministers, one from the UNFGG and two from the UPFA, were sworn in on 9 September 2015. 19 state ministers (11 UNFGG, 8 UPFA) and 21 deputy ministers (11 UNFGG, 10 UPFA) were also sworn in on 9 September 2015. Two more deputy ministers, both from the UPFA, were sworn in on 10 September 2015. A further cabinet minister from the UPFA was sworn in on 23 October 2015. A further cabinet minister from the UNFGG was sworn in on 25 February 2016. A UPFA state minister and two deputy ministers (one UNFGG, one UPFA) were sworn in on 6 April 2016.
Constitutional crisis The UPFA withdrew from the national government on 26 October 2018.
President Maithripala Sirisena, leader of the UPFA, dismissed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former President
Mahinda Rajapaksa. The following day Sirisena
prorogued Parliament. A
constitutional crisis ensued as the UNP refused to accept the changes, describing them as unconstitutional, illegal and a coup. Over the next few days, Sirisena appointed a
new cabinet consisting of MPs from the UPFA, EPDP and defections from the UNP. Despite the defections, the UPFA could not muster the support of a majority of MPs and with the TNA, which held the
balance of power in Parliament, announcing that it would support a
motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa, Sirisena
dissolved parliament on 9 November 2018 and called for fresh elections on 5 January 2019. The UNP, TNA, JVP and several others challenged the dissolution in the
Supreme Court which on 13 November 2018 issued a
stay on the dissolution until 7 December 2018. Parliament re-convened on 14 November 2018 when 122 (100 UNFGG, 14 TNA, 6 JVP, 2 UPFA) out of 225 MPs supported the motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa. Sirisena and the UPFA refused to accept the motion of no confidence, saying that Speaker Karu Jayasuriya had not followed parliamentary procedures. On 16 November 2018, parliament passed an amended motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Rajapaksa with the support of 122 MPs. Sirisena rejected the second the motion of no confidence as well, saying that he would not re-appoint Wickremesinghe as prime minister. On 3 December 2018, following a
quo warranto petition filed by 122 MPs, the
Court of Appeal issued an
interim order restraining Rajapaksa and 48 ministers from functioning. On 12 December 2018, 117 MPs, including 14 from the TNA, supported a motion of confidence in Wickremesinghe. A seven-bench Supreme Court unanimously ruled on 13 December 2018 that Sirisena's dissolution of parliament on 9 November 2018 was unconstitutional and null,
void ab initio and without force or effect in law. The following day a three-bench Supreme Court refused to
vacate the Court of Appeal's interim order but allowed for a full appeal to be heard in mid January 2019. Rajapaksa resigned as Prime Minister on 15 December 2018, and Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Prime Minister the following day, ending the crisis. ==Legislation==