Three candidates were nominated today to replace Sri Lanka’s current president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country last week due to the severe economic crisis and resigned.
The President will be elected by Parliament on Wednesday by secret ballot.
Parliament has announced that current President Ranil Wickremesinghe will face off against former Education Minister Dullas Alahapperuma and left-wing leader Anura Dissanayake, backed by the main opposition party.
Shortly before the announcement, main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa withdrew his candidacy in favor of Alahapperuma, a dissident from the ruling party.
Three candidates were formally nominated by MPs in a session lasting less than 10 minutes, under tight surveillance in the parliament building.
Located in the south of India and with a population of 22 million, the island is running out of fuel and has a shortage of basic products because it has no foreign currency to finance imports.
Serious economic crisis is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Sri Lanka, which failed to pay its $51 billion foreign debt in April.
After months of protests over the worst economic and political crisis in Sri Lanka’s history, protesters stormed Rajapaksa’s palace on 9 July, forcing him to flee to the Maldives. He took refuge in Singapore, where he submitted his resignation last week.
After his resignation, Wickremesinghe, who served as prime minister six times, automatically became interim president and has the support of Rajapaksa’s party to maintain this position.
Wickremesinghe renewed the country’s state of emergency on Monday ahead of Wednesday’s parliamentary vote to elect a president for the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term, which will expire in November 2024.
source: Noticias
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