The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the country’s ruling party, on Friday announced its decision to support interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the island nation’s most successful successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a parliamentary vote next week. This will be followed by unprecedented protests over the worsening economic crisis. in decades.
SLPP general secretary Sagar Kariyawasam said in a statement that the party would support Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, who was sworn in as interim president on Friday, until parliament elects Rajapaksa’s successor.
Former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s party has announced its support for 73-year-old Wickremesinghe, who was once its arch rival, even though Dullas Alhapparuma, who broke away from the SLPP, announced his candidacy for the presidency. Alhapparuma said he was hoping for cross-party support to fill the void for the remainder of Rajapaksa’s remaining term as a non-political candidate in the presidential race.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa agreed to step down after thousands of protesters stormed his official residence, blaming him for the unprecedented economic crisis that brought the country to its knees. Rajapaksa and his wife fled to the Maldives without resigning from their posts. He went to Singapore on Thursday from Maldives from where he sent his resignation.
Alhapparuma was among a group of 10 SLPP MPs who declared independence from the ruling coalition when the political crisis broke out. Wickremesinghe, who has only his own seat in the 225-member assembly, will be entirely dependent on the support of the SLPP.
Main opposition SJB leader Sajith Premadasa is yet to announce his candidature. He has the support of more than 50 MPs. Sri Lanka, a country of 22 million people, is in the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.
(with PTI inputs)
read all breaking news, today’s fresh newswatch top videos And live TV Here.