July 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former president of Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa has bid farewell to the nation with a message of apology after having done “everything possible” to prevent the economic crisis that has finally claimed his position and has put him on the run abroad after the popular uprising from last weekend.
Rajapaksa’s resignation was accepted by Parliament on Friday. The former president is now in Singapore after stopping over in the Maldives, and his final destination is still unknown.
The Parliament of Sri Lanka, for its part, has begun this Saturday the procedures to elect a new president, a position that is currently held on an interim basis by the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
In his farewell letter, Rajapaksa blames the crisis on years of economic mismanagement before his term, coupled with the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is my personal belief that I have taken all possible steps to address this crisis, including the request for a concentration or unity government,” according to the letter, read this Saturday in Parliament and collected by the Pragativadi news portal.
Rajapaksa thus gives in after several months of protests over the increase in prices, the lack of food, medicine and fuel, which has put the small Asian island in front of its worst economic crisis since it gained independence from the British colonial yoke.
The popular revolution in Sri Lanka has thus forced the definitive downfall of the Rajapaksa family, after Gotabaya forced his brother Mahinda to step down as prime minister in early May in a superfluous attempt to quell the protests.
The President of Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, has confirmed that the new president will be elected on July 20 by the legislative body, a date previously chosen by the leaders of the political parties with representation.
Yapa Abeywardena himself confirmed early this Friday that Rajapaksa’s letter of resignation has been received by the authorities, which implies his effective resignation from July 14.
Add Comment