Sri Lankan Parliament to meet today; new President to be elected within 7 days

International

oi-Madhuri Adnal

Colombo, July 16: The Sri Lankan Parliament will meet on Saturday following Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation as President, the crisis-hit country’s parliamentary speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced on Friday.

President Rajapaksa officially resigned on Friday, two days after the embattled leader fled the country in the face of massive protests against his government for mishandling the economy that bankrupted the country.

The 73-year-old leader Thursday emailed his resignation letter to the Speaker soon after he was allowed by Singapore to enter the city-state on a “private visit”.

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On Friday morning, Speaker Abeywardena formally announced that President Rajapaksa has resigned after confirming the authenticity of the resignation letter emailed to him.

The Parliament will meet on Saturday and the new President will be elected within seven days in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, the Daily Mirror Lanka quoted Speaker Abeywardena as saying.

The Speaker said in terms of the Constitution Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will function in the capacity of the President overseeing functions, duties, and powers of the office of the President until the constitutional procedure of electing the new President is over, the report added.

On Saturday, Rajapaksa announced that he will step down on July 13 after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that has brought the country to its knees.

He, however, fled to the Maldives without resigning from his office. From the Maldives, he went to Singapore on Thursday.

Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as interim President of Sri Lanka

Rajapaksa was the first person with a military background to be elected as Sri Lanka’s President in 2019.

The Parliament will elect a new president within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.