AKIPRESS.COM - Sri Lanka's president has lifted his suspension of parliament and called a meeting for 5 November which could end a bitter power struggle between two rival prime ministers, Sky News reports.

Maithripala Sirisena, who sparked the crisis by sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister and naming former leader Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place, said he would allow a vote to see which man has majority backing among deputies.

The return of Mr Rajapaksa, who crushed a decades-old Tamil insurgency, has stoked fears of fresh political and ethnic division in the island nation of 21 million mostly Sinhalese Buddhists, with Tamil and Muslim minorities.

Mr Sirisena suspended parliament until 16 November in the hours after the sacking last Friday, deepening the crisis which led the parliament speaker to warn of a "bloodbath" unless a vote is held. One activist has already been killed in fallout from the tensions.

The crisis has put the whole country on edge and threatened to polarise voters.