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Sri Lankan Opposition candidate is Speaker

By V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 22. W.J.M. Lokubandara, a candidate fielded by Sri Lanka's Opposition United National Party, was today elected the new Speaker of the island-nation's 225-member Parliament by a narrow one-vote margin. Mr. Lokubandara (110 votes) defeated the Government's candidate, D.E.W Gunasekara (109 votes), in a day marked by high drama and pandemonium, which saw the Parliament vote thrice over a period of nine hours to elect the Speaker. The first round resulted in a tie and the second round of voting was called off after Government MPs protested against it on procedural grounds. Five Buddhist monks abstained during the final vote. One Tamil MP was absent.

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