The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to extend, on behalf of our party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, our congratulations on your election as the new Speaker of the Tenth Parliament.

¶ 02 In this transformative political era, today marks for the first time the election of a Speaker who was not a Member of the previous Parliament. We bow in respect to the people who, with great hope, cast their votes to bring about this moment.

¶ 03 I must recall one matter. The first time a Member from your party entered this Chamber in 1994 was enabled by an important change. Our late leader, Hon. M. H. M. Ashraff, appealed to the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa, then a presidential candidate, to reduce the 12% threshold under proportional representation to 5%. In that political context, under the “Flower Vase” symbol of the Sri Lanka Progressive Front contesting Hambantota, one of your members was elected to Parliament.

¶ 04 From then to now, your party has reached a highly transformative position. It was our late leader who helped create that opportunity, and it also enabled smaller parties like ours to gain representation. Accordingly, in 1994, Hon. Nihal Galappaththi of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was elected to Parliament. Looking back over three decades, the proportional representation system has allowed parties representing minority communities to gain representation. We should further reform election laws to preserve and improve that.

¶ 05 Mr. Speaker, we expect that as the newly elected Speaker of this Tenth Parliament, you will act impartially in debates and protect Members on both the Government and Opposition benches. Once again, I extend my congratulations.

¶ 06 Thank you.