[21] The presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, from 2005 to 2015 was an increasingly authoritarian regime[22] characterized by the diminishing human rights in the country, nepotism, weakening of government institutions, slow progress of national reconciliation in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and close ties to China.

[23] According to Reuters, in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan Civil War, Rajapaksa borrowed "billions of dollars" from China to build infrastructure projects, though these had little economic value to the country.

[23] A national unity government was formed, which passed the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Sri Lanka on 28 April 2015, stipulating that the Prime Minister should remain in office for as long as his cabinet functions, unless he resigns or ceases to be a member of parliament.

[30] By 2018, following Mahinda Rajapaksa's proxy Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna winning a landslide victory in the 2018 local authority elections, disputes among the members of the National Government began to surface and a major rift between the president and prime minister appeared.

[34] The Sunday Times of 15 July 2018 stated that "the former Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation chairman Gamini Senarath and its Managing Director Piyadasa Kudabalage will be the first to be indicted before the newly set up court.

Kumara was interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), and in late September the police arrested an Indian national, Marceli Thomas, from Kerala, claiming he knew of the plot.

However said "Under these political problems, economic troubles, and the strong plot to assassinate me, the only alternative open to me was to invite former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and appoint him as Prime Minister to form a new government.

"[1] In February 2019 Sri Lankan police refused to press charges against Indian national, Marceli Thomas and cleared the man of wrongdoing due to lack of evidence.

[27] That day Rajapaksa loyalists stormed two state-owned television networks which they regarded loyal to Wickremesinghe and the sitting government, including Rupavahini, and forced them off the air.

[41] Wickremesinghe however entered Temple Trees, the prime minister's residence, refusing to accept the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa and his dismissal, insisting in a letter to Sirisena that he was still in office.

[9] President Sirisena stated on Saturday night that the main reason for him to form a new government with Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister was the alleged plot to assassinate him.

[51] On 2 November 119 MPs from several parties met and passed a resolution calling for immediate convention of Parliament claiming that the removal of the Prime Minister and the appointment of another was unconstitutional.

[62] On 6 November Deputy Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment and UPFA MP Manusha Nanayakkara resigned from his ministerial position and pledged support to Ranil Wickremesinghe.

[66] UNP MP Hirunika Premachandra's political career had been threatened, over a phone call to her aunt, if she failed to accept a ministerial portfolio with the Sirisena-Rajapaksa group.

Another UNP legislator claimed he had been approached by Sirisena's party to defect with an offer of 500 million rupees and an apartment in Malaysia along with free passage for the entire family to a foreign destination.

[72] Sirisena openly admitted his candidate for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa attempted to bribe members of parliament in order to show majority in the House, he went on to say that the current crisis could have been avoided had he been able to the 113 MPs.

[76] Amid calls to reconvene parliament Sirisena and his party admitted they did not have enough votes to support Mahinda Rajapaksa against Ranil Wickremesinghe to decide the office of Prime Minister.

Amid shouting, speaker Karu Jayasuriya took a voice vote while members loyal to Rajapaksa attempted to grab the mace, the symbol of authority of the legislature, to disrupt it.

Silva is handling investigations into major incidents including those during the Rajapaksa administration, most notably the abduction and the assault of Journalist Keith Noyahr, in 2008 and the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge in 2009, in addition to at least 60 crimes committed by the LTTE.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, his family and associates are directly connected to these investigations, and as Silva pursued inquiries into them, on 18 November he was transferred by IGP Pujith Jayasundara on the orders of President Sirisena to the Negombo Division with "immediate effect on service requirements".

[105] It was learnt in a letter to IGP Jayasundara, written by CID Director Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne that it was Admiral Wijegunaratne who had orchestrated the transferral by framing allegations against Silva of maintaining connections with the LTTE, during the last security council meeting chaired by President Sirisena.

[98] Mahinda Rajapaksa who holds the Ministry of Finance in the disputed government instructed the cut the sugar tax by 40 percent, a move made after a meeting with business leaders in the industry.

[114] "It has been said by some of the added Respondent that refusing the Petitioner's applications will enable a General Election to be held in pursuance of the Proclamation marked "P1" and, therefore, justified because it will give effect to the franchise of the people.

[7] On 14 December in response to the Supreme Court rulings, according to party members, Mahinda Rajapaksa said he would relinquish his claim to be prime minister and would back down after an address to the nation on Saturday (15th).

The crisis resulted in the split of the SLFP when Rajapaksa and his loyalists broke away from the party days after being appointed prime minister and took up membership in the pro-Rajapaksa Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna.

Moody's says the downgrade was driven by the "ongoing tightening in external and domestic financing conditions and low reserve adequacy, exacerbated most recently by a political crisis which seems likely to have a lasting impact on policy".

[19][20] In the wake of the political crisis and doubts about the future of democracy in the nation, the United States and Japanese governments froze more than a billion US dollars worth of development aid.

President Sirisena's betrayal of the 2015 mandate, which opened a democratic space for Sri Lankans, shocked and angered many citizens who spontaneously mobilised to defend constitutional governance, democracy, and freedom.

[124] The political fallout of the constitutional crisis and the bitter infighting between the country's leaders was believed to have contributed to the breakdown of the government's functionality, which would subsequently lead to the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings.

[136] After being rescued by police commandos, Ranatunga later spoke to reporters saying his bodyguards opened fire because the crowd "came to kill me – I state this responsibly – and you can check the CCTV footage... For the first time, I feared for my life.