Sri Lanka’s parliament speaker formally accepted the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Friday after he fled to Singapore to escape a popular uprising sparked by the country’s worst economic crisis in seven decades.
After suffering from shortages of gasoline and diesel and runaway prices of staples like vegetables and bread for months, Sri Lankans now expect lawmakers to elect a new president next Wednesday.
Until then, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be acting president, although protesters also want him to step down. His private residence was set on fire by protesters last weekend and his office raided this week.
“From this point, we will constitutionally nominate a new president,” the speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, told reporters after receiving Rajapaksa’s resignation letter the night before. “It will happen quickly and successfully. I ask everyone to support this process.”
Rajapaksa landed in Singapore on Thursday after fleeing to the Maldives earlier in the week on a military jet along with his wife and two security guards. Protesters occupied his home and office last weekend during the demonstrations.
“We are so happy today that he resigned and we feel that when we, the people, come together, we can do anything,” said Arunanadandan, 34, a school teacher who was camped out at the main protest site across from the presidential office.
Wickremesinghe is the ruling party’s first choice to take the job full-time, although no decision has been made. The opposition candidate is Sajith Premadasa.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
