<p>Sri Lanka's parliament passed a no-confidence motion against newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa amid raucous opposition on Wednesday, throwing the country deeper into crisis.</p>.<p>Rajapaksa's allies said they could not accept the vote, shouting "this is illegal".</p>.<p>Sri Lanka has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month, replaced him with Rajapaksa, a pro-China strongman, and dissolved parliament.</p>.<p>The Supreme Court stayed a presidential decree to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections on Tuesday and the house sat again on Wednesday.</p>.<p>"The (no-confidence) motion was taken to vote by voice on the floor and it had a majority support. Now we are going to sign the papers,” R. Sambanthan, leader of an opposition group bitterly opposed to Rajapaska, told Reuters.</p>.<p>Five other opposition lawmakers also confirmed the move.</p>.<p>The instability in the island nation of 21 million people has raised concerns for its economy, already expanding at its slowest pace in more than a decade.</p>.<p>On Wednesday, the central bank unexpectedly raised its key policy rates, a move aimed at defending a faltering rupee as foreign capital outflows picked up in Sri Lanka, where both India and China are locked in a tussle for influence.</p>.<p>The parliamentary speaker has called the president's sacking of the prime minister to bring a former leader back to power a non-violent coup d'etat.</p>.<p>Rajapaksa, under whose rule Sri Lanka achieved its 2009 victory in a decades-long conflict against rebels from the Tamil minority, is seen as a hero by many among Sri Lanka’s Buddhist majority. He has been accused by diplomats of human rights abuses during the war, which he denies.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka's parliament passed a no-confidence motion against newly appointed Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa amid raucous opposition on Wednesday, throwing the country deeper into crisis.</p>.<p>Rajapaksa's allies said they could not accept the vote, shouting "this is illegal".</p>.<p>Sri Lanka has been in turmoil since President Maithripala Sirisena fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last month, replaced him with Rajapaksa, a pro-China strongman, and dissolved parliament.</p>.<p>The Supreme Court stayed a presidential decree to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections on Tuesday and the house sat again on Wednesday.</p>.<p>"The (no-confidence) motion was taken to vote by voice on the floor and it had a majority support. Now we are going to sign the papers,” R. Sambanthan, leader of an opposition group bitterly opposed to Rajapaska, told Reuters.</p>.<p>Five other opposition lawmakers also confirmed the move.</p>.<p>The instability in the island nation of 21 million people has raised concerns for its economy, already expanding at its slowest pace in more than a decade.</p>.<p>On Wednesday, the central bank unexpectedly raised its key policy rates, a move aimed at defending a faltering rupee as foreign capital outflows picked up in Sri Lanka, where both India and China are locked in a tussle for influence.</p>.<p>The parliamentary speaker has called the president's sacking of the prime minister to bring a former leader back to power a non-violent coup d'etat.</p>.<p>Rajapaksa, under whose rule Sri Lanka achieved its 2009 victory in a decades-long conflict against rebels from the Tamil minority, is seen as a hero by many among Sri Lanka’s Buddhist majority. He has been accused by diplomats of human rights abuses during the war, which he denies.</p>