After more than 36 hours in political limbo, Sri Lanka regained some calm on Friday in the midst of a state of emergency when its fled president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, officially resigned, Parliament confirmed. It was three days of tension and uncertainty, the last of a dramatic week in which the beleaguered leader ended up leaving the country after protesters, who blame him for having bankrupted the country, stormed the presidential palace and its offices.
Rajapaksa is currently in Singapore, where he fled via the Maldives on Wednesday. His resignation letter was sent late Thursday night, first by email and then sent in original on a diplomatic flight, but the formal announcement was delayed until Friday morning in a televised speech by parliamentary spokesman Mahinda. Yapa Abeywardena.
In accordance with the constitution, the former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, took office on Friday as interim president after being appointed to that position by the resigned head of state. He will hold office until deputies elect a new leader next Wednesday, July 20, the process may take up to seven days, according to Abeywardena.
In his first public speech as acting president, Wickremesinghe assured that he agreed with the peaceful protests but said that he would take “immediate measures to guarantee law and peace in the country” in the case of those groups that are causing disturbances and that, he denounced , intend to disrupt the election of a new head of state next week. In addition, he assured that he will revoke an amendment to the Constitution to give more power to Parliament.
Next Wednesday, the 225 members of Parliament will secretly vote to elect one of them as the future president, who will preside over the country until 2024, when Rajapaksa’s term was due to end.
The few days until July 20 and the absence of clear majorities between the parties will require intense negotiations between the formations to propose their candidates, political analyst Aruna Kulatunga told the Efe news agency. According to this expert, the main names that sound to succeed Rajapaksa are “Wickremesinghe, the leader of the opposition, Dullas Alahepperuma, from the party of former president Rajapaksa, and Sajith Premadasa, Sarath Fonseka, also from the opposition.”
Premadasa was Rajapaksa’s main rival during the 2019 presidential election, but was defeated by winning 42% of the vote to his opponent’s 52%.
Political leaders met in parliament today shortly after Rajapaksa’s resignation was announced, and a special parliamentary session convened by the speaker of the House will be held tomorrow to start the process of appointing a new president, parliament reported today.
One of the main tasks of the new president will be to form a new government, after the vacancy for prime minister has become free after the new appointment of Wickremesinghe.
That government will be essential to resume talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a possible financial rescue of Sri Lanka, which is going through the worst economic crisis since its independence from the British Empire in 1948.
The island country has suffered for months from shortages of medicine, food and fuel, caused in part by heavy debt, misguided government policies, and the impact of the Easter attacks and the pandemic on tourism.
This situation has given rise to protests throughout the island since the end of March, when thousands of people began to take to the streets to demand the resignation of Rajapaksa for his handling of the economic crisis.
