Sri Lankan parties vow to impeach president

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Opposition Sri Lankan MPs have stormed parliament and vowed to impeach the president after she suspended the legislature last week.

In a deepening political crisis, the MPs forced their way past police barricades to enter parliament on Monday, and vowed to stop the country from sliding into dictatorship.

Their moves came after President Chandrika Kumaratunga suspended parliament to thwart a no-confidence vote against her minority government.

She also ordered a national referendum, seeking a mandate to govern.

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But Monday's opposition protests were largely symbolic as parliament speaker Anura Bandaranaike, Kumaratunga's brother, had ruled he had no power to grant an opposition demand to reconvene parliament.

The deepening crisis has added more uncertainty to the war-wracked country, which has been fighting an ethnic war that has left 64,000 people dead over 18 years.

Ally crossed floor

Lawmakers from all but one opposition party met inside the building before announcing the impeachment bid that will require the support of two thirds of the 225-member house.

"We have decided to bring an impeachment against the president, we will start work on that," opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

A key government ally crossed the floor of the house last month, reducing Kumaratunga's 9-month-old governing coalition, the Peoples' Alliance, to a minority.

Sri Lanka's electoral system is a complex mixture of proportional and electoral representation under which the party that wins the most number of constituencies is not guaranteed a majority in the house.

Reuters contributed to this report.