Budget passes first round of voting

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 November 1998, 22:23 GMT]
The budget proposed for the next year was approved by the Sri Lankan Parliament in the first round of voting today. 124 members voted in favour of the budget while 88 voted against it. The final voting will be held next in the first week of December.

The main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) voted against the budget.

The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) voted in favour of the budget.

The Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP) and Communist Party (CP) who are in the coalition with the Sri Lanka Federal Party (SLFP) voted in favour of the budget.

Mr. Ramamoorthy, ex-EPDP MP voted for the budget while his brother, who was also an EPDP MP earlier walked out of the house and did not participate in the voting.

Wijeypala Mendis of the UNP was not presented in the house. The governing party members hooted when his name was called to vote. Political sources said there has been a rift between him and the UNP leadership.