Six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected president by the Sri Lankan parliament on Wednesday, replacing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned last week after fleeing his country due to a serious political and economic crisis.
According to the official results, Wickremesinghe received 134 votes, with 82 votes for his main rival, Dullas Alahapperuma, and just three votes for leftist Anura Dissanayake.
“Our divisions are over,” Wickremesinghe said in his acceptance speech, inviting Alahapperuma to “join” him to “bring the country out of the crisis we are facing”.
He will complete the term of presidential candidate Rajapaksa, who is expected to take office on Wednesday, which expires in November 2024.
Wickremesinghe, 73, will take control of a bankrupt country that is negotiating a bailout plan with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and whose 22 million people are suffering from severe food, fuel and medicine shortages.
Wickremesinghe had the official support of Rajapaksa’s party, the SLPP, but was rejected by protesters who saw him as an ally of the outgoing president.
Months of protests against an unprecedented economic crisis resulted in Rajapaksa’s resignation, announced last week from Singapore.
His departure dealt a blow to the once powerful clan that had dominated Sri Lanka’s political life for decades, after his brothers resigned as prime minister and finance minister months ago.
“Law and order”
Wickremesinghe, who took over as interim president following Rajapaksa’s resignation, extended the state of emergency that gave broad powers to the security forces and sent troops last week to evacuate protesters from occupied public buildings.
An opposition lawmaker noted that Wickremesinghe’s tough stance on the protesters was welcomed by lawmakers, who were impressed by the violence of the protests.
“Ranil is poised to become a law and order candidate,” Tamil MP Dharmalingam Sithadthan told AFP.
“Ranil has regained acceptance of the urban middle class by restoring some of its supplies, such as gas, and releasing government buildings by making them look intact,” said political analyst Kusal Perera.
Analysts believe Wickremesinghe will collapse hard if the protesters demanding his resignation return to the streets, accusing him of protecting Rajapaksa’s interests.
Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Gotabaya’s older brother and leader of the clan that has dominated Sri Lanka’s political life for years, remains in the country and is pressuring SLPP lawmakers to support Wickremesinghe, party sources say.
source: Noticias
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