Lanka swears in new prez amid economic meltdown
The six-time prime minister succeeded Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled Sri Lanka and resigned from his post last week
Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president on Thursday to take charge of a nation bitterly angry he will remain in power amid an unprecedented economic crisis.
Sri Lankans have taken to the streets for months to demand their top leaders step down to take responsibility for economic chaos that has left the nation’s 22 million people struggling with shortages of essentials, including medicine, fuel and food. While the protesters have focused on the Rajapaksa political dynasty, Wickremesinghe also has drawn their ire as a perceived Rajapaksa surrogate.
The six-time prime minister had never held the top job. But he easily won the secret ballot of lawmakers on Wednesday to finish the term of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country after protesters stormed his residence last week and resigned.
His appointment received mixed reactions, with some supporters lighting firecrackers while protesters continued to demand that he resign.
Wickremesinghe, 73, has wide experience in diplomatic and international affairs and has been overseeing bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund. He won the support of 134 members in the 225-member parliament.
Lawmakers apparently considered him the safer hands to lead the nation through the crisis, despite public anger at Wickremesinghe as an example of the nation’s problematic political establishment. During demonstrations last week, crowds set his personal residence on fire and occupied his office.
After Wednesday’s vote, Wickremesinghe called for politicians to work together and pleaded for the country to move on. But protesters flocked to the presidential office instead, chanting, “Ranil, go home!”
Protest leaders told reporters on Wednesday they don’t accept Wickremesinghe’s appointment and urged him to step down immediately.
Parliament’s selection goes against the “will of the people”, said Jeewantha Peiris, a protest leader and Catholic priest, adding that demonstrations against Wickremesinghe would continue.
“We are the people who sent Gotabaya home, and it’s not a difficult task for us to send you (Wickremesinghe) home,” said Tampitiye Sugathananda, a Buddhist monk and protest leader who was outside the presidential office.
Wickremesinghe took his oath as the country’s 8th executive president on Thursday morning before chief justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at a ceremony held in parliament in the capital, Colombo. He now can choose a new prime minister.
In an example of the troubles caused by the economic crisis, a power outage hampered live coverage of the swearing-in ceremony at parliament. An official at parliament who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the media said the live coverage was to be done by the state-owned Independent Television Network.
Wickremesinghe prorogued parliament for 24 hours on Thursday to start a fresh session of the legislature, with chief government whip Prasanna Ranatunga telling reporters that the new president wanted to reconstitute parliamentary committees.