Lhe Speaker of Sri Lanka’s Parliament has announced that he has accepted the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, two days after he fled into exile after protesters invaded his residence, putting an end to the occupation of public buildings in the capital Colombo. “Gotabaya has legally resigned,” Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana told reporters on Friday July 15, the day after the resignation letter was emailed.
Parliament will elect a new president on July 20. In the meantime, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as interim president. Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled his residence on Saturday, stormed by demonstrators accusing him of his mismanagement at a time when Sri Lanka is going through the most serious economic crisis in its history. He managed to leave his country on Wednesday to go to the Maldives, where he flew to Singapore on Thursday, from where he sent his resignation letter. He is the first head of state to step down since Sri Lanka opted for presidential rule in 1978.
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The departure of the Prime Minister demanded
In the capital Colombo, placed under curfew, a small but satisfied crowd, some waving the national flag, danced and sang to express their joy in front of the secretariat of the presidency when the news of his resignation was announced. Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose departure is also demanded by the protesters, automatically became interim president until Parliament appoints a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Hours before the announcement of the withdrawal, the police had repelled those who tried to enter the Parliament. The crowd had invaded the offices of the Prime Minister on Wednesday, after having done the same on Saturday with the palace of the Head of State. Nearly 85 people were injured in the clashes, and one man died of asphyxiation from tear gas. Hundreds of thousands of people have visited the presidential palace since it opened to the public after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled on Saturday.