Sri Lanka: Speaker of Parliament accepts Rajapaksa’s resignation

Sri Lanka’s parliament speaker on Friday accepted the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore to escape mass protests sparked by the country’s worst economic crisis in seven decades.

“From this moment on, we will proceed to constitutionally appoint a new president,” Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told reporters. “It will be carried out quickly and successfully. I ask everyone to support this process.”

Abeywardena said he hoped to complete the selection process for a new president in seven days and that parliament would reconvene on Saturday. The agenda for the weekend meeting will be decided on Friday.

Rajapaksa tendered his resignation by email late on Thursday. Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday and headed for Singapore on Thursday on a Saudi airlines flight, a person familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The Maldives government confirmed late on Thursday that the country had granted diplomatic clearance to a Sri Lankan Air Force plane carrying President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his spouse on a transit visit.

Singapore’s Foreign Ministry said Rajapaksa had entered the country on a private visit, and had not applied for or received asylum.

Rajapaksa tendered his resignation by email late on Thursday

Rajapaksa’s decision to appoint his ally, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as acting president sparked further protests, with protesters storming Parliament and the Prime Minister’s office demanding that he too resign.

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Protests against the economic crisis have been going on for months and reached their peak last weekend, when hundreds of thousands of people stormed government buildings in Colombo.

Sri Lanka had started preliminary talks with the International Monetary Fund about a possible bailout loan, but these have been interrupted by the latest chaos.

Rajapaksa’s decision to appoint his ally, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as acting president triggered further protests.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters on Thursday that Fund staff remained in contact with technical-level government officials and hoped to resume high-level dialogue “as soon as possible.”

The government imposed a curfew in Colombo from noon (0630 GMT) on Thursday until early Friday in a bid to prevent further unrest.

(With information from Reuters)

Article republished from the Chinese state media CGTN within the framework of an agreement between both parties to share content. Link to original article: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-07-15/Sri-Lankan-president-hands-in-resignation-after-fleeing-to-Singapore-1bGlJdQKKuk/index.html