The ruling party in Sri Lanka used its majority in the parliament to defeat an opposition sponsored bill on Right to Information. Sri Lanka’s principal opposition United National Party’s (UNP) Deputy Leader Karu Jayasuriya moved a private member’s bill which provided for the freedom of access to official information. The bill sought to establish an Information Commission and to appoint information officers setting out the procedure for making requests for information on matters concerned. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), which enjoys a two-thirds majority in the 225-member assembly, voted overwhelmingly against the motion to defeat the bill. The opposition parties in Sri Lanka accuse the government of maintaining emergency laws, even two years after security forces crushed the LTTE, to suppress political opponents and to suppress media freedom in the island.