Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has described the No Confidence Motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe presented by 112 MPs, as being “historic”.

In a media release, Rajapaksa said, “half the sitting members of parliament have signed a motion of no confidence against the Prime Minister and this is probably the first time in the history of the Westminster parliamentary tradition that such a large proportion of MPs have signed a no-confidence motion.”

Furthermore, he said that “This situation is not surprising given the unethical conduct of this government, of which I too have been at the receiving end.”

Rajapaksa said that Highways Ministry records would reveal Wickremesinghe’s ‘lie’ that a Rs. 28 billion loan had been used to pay for his helicopter rides and free meals to potential voters.