Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned on Thursday after a wave of protests over the worst economic crisis in the country’s history.
Rajapaksa, who has been in power since November 2019 and fled after protesters stormed the presidential palace, announced his resignation in an email to parliament.
According to Indunil Yapa, spokesperson for the legislature, the head of state’s decision has been referred to the Attorney General of Sri Lanka for consideration of its consequences. “The authenticity and legality of the email must be checked before official acceptance,” Yapa told AFP.
Rajapaksa is the first president to step down in Singapore after a break in the Maldives, and in Sri Lanka since the country accepted a presidential regime in 1978. According to the constitution, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who will replace him temporarily, is also demanded by the Protesters to resign.
Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets of the capital Colombo in recent days, blaming Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe for the worst economic crisis in the country’s history since independence in 1948. .
With no existing international reserves, Sri Lanka has already defaulted on US$51 billion in foreign debt and is now seeking a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In May, suppression of actions against the government had already left nine dead in Sri Lanka and forced the outgoing president’s brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to resign.
In the current wave of protests, protesters have come to occupy the presidential palace and the prime minister’s office and withdrew from official buildings only on Thursday, but vowed to continue the fight.
source: Noticias
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