A protester drinks a cup of tea as she sits by a defaced poster carrying portraits of ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, center, and his brothers at the entrance to president's office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, July 15, 2022. (AP)Sri Lanka crisis Live Updates: The Sri Lankan Parliament met briefly on Saturday to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. During the 13-minute special session, Dhammika Dassanayake, Secretary General of Parliament, announced the vacancy for the post of president, reported news agency PTI. Former president Gotabaya’s resignation letter was read during the session, it added.
In other news, Sri Lanka’s top court on Friday barred the country’s former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country until July 28 without permission, Transparency International Sri Lanka said. Three other former officials, including two former central bank governors, also cannot leave the country without the court’s permission till July 28, the anti-corruption group said in a tweet.
The new president is expected to be elected on July 20 and will serve the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in 2024. In the meantime, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as the interim president of the country. The newly-elected president is likely to appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament.
Sri Lankans celebrate the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo on Thursday. (Photo: AP)
“I served my motherland to the best of my ability and I will continue to do so in the future,” former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has said, as he defended himself in his resignation letter which was read out during a special session of Parliament on Saturday.
Sri Lanka’s Parliament met briefly to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Rajapaksa, who fled to the country on Wednesday after a popular uprising against him for mishandling the country’s economic crisis.
The resignation letter sent by Rajapaksa from Singapore was read during the 13-minute special session.
The United Nations in Sri Lanka has urged all stakeholders in the island nation to ensure a peaceful transition of power in full respect for the Constitution and to ensure that the root causes of the current instability and people's grievances are addressed.
Following the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka Hanaa Singer-Hamdy said in a statement on Friday that it is imperative that the transition of power is accompanied by broad and inclusive consultation within and outside Parliament.
“The United Nations in Sri Lanka urges all stakeholders to ensure a peaceful transition of power in full respect for the Constitution. It is important that the root causes of the current instability and the people's grievances are addressed. Dialogue with all stakeholders is the best way to address the concerns and fulfil the aspirations of all Sri Lankans,” she said. (PTI)
Sri Lanka's Parliament met in a brief special session on Saturday to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
During the 13-minute special session, Dhammika Dassanayake, Secretary General of Parliament, announced the vacancy for the post of president. Former president Rajapaksa's resignation letter was read during the session.
“According to section 4 of the presidential elections (special provisions) Act No 2 of 1981 the parliament should be convened within three days after the vacancy occurs," Janakantha de Silva, Parliament's director of communications, said earlier. (PTI)
It wasn’t only demonstrators that wanted Gotabaya Rajapaksa out of office: Even other members of his family saw him as a lame-duck leader. And one in particular, his 36-year-old nephew Namal Rajapaksa, has already been thinking of how the dynasty can restore its reputation over the long term even as the increasingly violent protests had some observers wondering if the whole family would be forced into exile.
In a recent interview at the ruling party’s office in Colombo, which was vandalised by a mob during the May 9 violence, Namal said that Gotabaya “should complete his term and then go.” He described the family’s current predicament as a “temporary setback,” adding that the goal now was “to provide as much stability as we can to address the basic needs of the people, and in the meantime work on long-term strategies.” Here's Namal said.
Sri Lankan cricketer Chamika Karunaratne told news agency ANI that he has been standing in queue for two days to fill fuel and he filled it for Rs. 10,000 which will last him for two to three days.
"India is like a brother country & they are helping us a lot. I thank them so much. We have problems. They are supporting us when we are struggling. Thank you so much for that. Thank you for everything. We will get better and better," he said.
Opposition party Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) said they will support interim president Ranil Wickremesinghe in the upcoming presidential polls on July 20, reported Sri Lanka-based Daily Mirror.
A little more than a month ago, the Sri Lankan government told its Olympic association to “forget” about participating in the Commonwealth Games to be held in the UK. With the island nation bankrupt, out of fuel and short on food supplies, its government was in no mood to entertain the request to fund what would be Sri Lanka’s largest-ever contingent for the Games, which begins in Birmingham on July 28.
“The Treasury said they don’t have money. Forget about it,” Sri Lanka’s chef de mission Dampath Fernando told The Indian Express from Colombo on Friday. “We fell into a difficult, desperate situation.”
But just when the doors were seemingly shut on them, the athletes were rescued by an unlikely source — the country’s cricket board, which contributed 22 million Sri Lankan rupees.
Sri Lanka’s opposition leader, who is seeking the presidency next week, vowed Friday to “listen to the people” who are struggling through the island nation’s worst economic crisis and to hold accountable the president who fled under pressure from protesters.
In an interview with The Associated Press from his office in the capital, Sajith Premadasa said that if he wins the election in parliament, he would ensure that “an elective dictatorship never, ever occurs” in Sri Lanka.
“That’s what we should do. That is our function — catching those who looted Sri Lanka. That should be done through proper constitutional, legal, democratic procedures,” Premadasa said.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, once Sri Lanka’s most feared figure, rumoured to run clandestine death squads, who struck dread among the press, bore down upon minorities, and whose links to the military were iron-clad, has fled the nation of which he was president, and two days later, tendered his resignation via an email.
It is a surreal consequence of several surreal months on the island. Months in which an unprecedented public uprising has put extraordinary pressure on the nation’s political establishment, particularly those within it who are accused of contributing to the harrowing economic crisis that has left many destitute.
A demonstrator writes 'Ranil Go Home' on a ribbon to be used in the protest against the government which now has Ranil Wickremesinghe on the President's chair.
Sri Lanka's top court on Friday barred former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa from leaving the country without permission until July 28, anti-corruption group Transparency International Sri Lanka said.
Three other former officials, including two former central bank governors, also cannot travel outside the country without the court's permission till July 28, the group said in a tweet. --Reuters
ri Lanka, a popular destination for holidaymakers, should be teeming with tourists at this time of year. Instead, an unprecedented economic crisis and political turmoil have all but wreaked its tourism with about 40 per cent of the pre-bookings being cancelled recently.
Tourism accounts for about 5 per cent of Sri Lanka's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Britain, India and China being the main markets. Sri Lanka is facing its worst foreign exchange crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic hit the island nation's earnings from tourism and remittances. --PTI
Sri Lanka's interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday decided to prohibit the use of the word 'His Excellency' to address the President and abolished the presidential flag, as he underlined his commitment to protecting democracy and the Constitution of the crisis-hit country.
“Rather than protecting individuals, protect the country,” Wickremesinghe, who is also the prime minister, said after he was sworn in as Sri Lanka's acting president until Parliament elects a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after protests against his government for mishandling the economy that bankrupted the country.
He said as the acting President he decided to prohibit the use of the word ‘His Excellency' when addressing the President. --PTI
India is doing as much as possible to be with neighbour Sri Lanka in its time of crisis, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said after launching stealth frigate in Kolkata. --PTI
Gevindu Kumaratunga, MP of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party told news agency ANI that the Opposition has decided on a schedule to select the next President.
"After receiving the nominations, a new President will be decided upon on Wednesday after voting," he added.
Sri Lanka's newly appointed acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Friday that he would follow constitutional process and establish law and order in the country.
Wickremesinghe, who was appointed acting President after Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned from his post on Thursday, asked lawmakers to work towards a consensus to establish an all-party government in the crisis-ridden country. (Reuters)
Sri Lanka is continuing negotiations with China for as much as $4 billion in aid and is confident Beijing will agree "at some point," Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing Sri Lanka's ambassador to China.
Colombo is asking China for a loan of $1 billion to repay an equivalent amount of Chinese debt coming due this year, Palitha Kohona said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Sri Lanka is also seeking a $1.5 billion credit line to pay for Chinese imports and activation of a $1.5 billion swap, Kohona added. (Reuters)
Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka's top leader for the second time in two months. Sri Lankan Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya read out the oath swearing in Wickremesinghe as the interim President.
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the country's acting president on Friday, a government official said.
Wickremesinghe had already taken on the role after former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on Wednesday following months of anti-government protests. (Reuters)
Nominations for the post of Sri Lankan President will be received on July 19 and the ballot will be held on July 20, reported Daily Mirror quoting the Speaker.