A new Sri Lankan president will be elected on July 20 by parliamentarians, provided that the current president has resigned on the 13th, as planned, according to the Sri Lankan site NewsWire. Candidatures must be announced on the 19th, after a new meeting of Parliament on the 15th to prepare for this election.
After that, the efforts to put in place a transitional government could be followed up. Since July 11, party leaders in the Assembly have met several times with the aim of finding a transition of power, indicates the Indian site The Print. They estimated “essential to set up a transpartisan government in accordance with the Constitution and to ensure essential services”, according to the declaration of the President of the Assembly.
The Rajapaksa brothers stranded at the airport
Meanwhile, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had fled his residence on July 9 before it was overrun by mobs, attempted to leave the country on the evening of the 11th to travel to Dubai. But the immigration officers refused to let him go to the VIP area to have his passport stamped there, “and he didn’t want to go and line up with everyone for fear of being attacked”, explains the Australian edition of the Guardian. As a result, having missed four flights to the United Arab Emirates, he eventually retreated with his wife to a nearby military base, the daily recounts.
The leader is protected by his presidential immunity, but he is accused of having carried out a disastrous economic policy which plunged his country into default and famine. He is also accused of corruption, not to mention responsibilities in war crimes while he was defense minister during the civil war, which ended in 2009.
On July 12, his brother Basil, former Minister of Finance, trying in turn to leave the country, was prevented from boarding for Dubai after protests from the population.
Following these two departure attempts, “a motion has been filed in the Supreme Court by four non-governmental organisations, including Transparency International Sri Lanka, calling for the ban on foreign travel” for the two men and four other senior officials, according to NewsWire.