Unpopular former Prime Minister Wickremesinghe is elected President of Sri Lanka

First modification: 07/20/2022 – 12:41Last modification: 07/20/2022 – 13:01

Ranil Wickremesinghe 73 years old and who has been until six times prime ministerwas the great favorite to occupy the position of president until the end of his mandate, that is, until November 2024, but he also faced rejection on the street since the demonstrators consider him an ally of the outgoing president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned last week after fleeing his country in the midst of a strong political and economic crisis. In fact, today’s president elected by Parliament had the decisive support of the former Sri Lankan president’s party.

In an attempt to calm things down, Ranil Wickremesinghe said in his acceptance speech that “the divisions are over”, something that in practice seems complicated if one pays attention to his hard line of law and order that, however, is well received by the legislators affected by the violence of the protests. Analysts believe that it will crack down harshly if the protesters return to the streets after having regained the acceptance of the urban middle class by restoring some provisions such as gas.

His main challenge now will be to take charge of a bankrupt country that is negotiating a rescue plan with the International Monetary Fund and whose 22 million inhabitants they face severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

All political parties in Sri Lanka support the ongoing negotiations with the IMF for the rescue package. The country defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in mid-April. The IMF said last Thursday that it hoped the crisis would be resolved quickly so it could resume negotiations, interrupted by the events.

historical crisis

Under the command of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis since independence and declared default. Since the end of 2021, the country is unable to finance even its most essential imports.

This crisis was triggered by the covid-19 pandemic, which devastated the island’s tourism sector, an important generator of foreign exchange, but was aggravated by a series of bad political decisions.

Even the president’s staunchest allies were drifting away from him as shortages of food, electricity, fuel and medicine worsened.

popular discontent erupted on July 9, when hundreds of protesters stormed Rajapaksa’s residence, who fled to a navy base before leaving the country.

(with AFP)