POBNEWS24, Dhaka July 20, 2022 : Acting President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected as the new President of that country. Members of Parliament of Sri Lanka elected him today Wednesday.
The BBC reported that Ronil won 134 votes in the parliamentary vote on Wednesday, while his rival SLPP critic and former education minister Dullas Alahaperuma was defeated by 82 votes.
It was said earlier that the new president of Sri Lanka will be chosen on July 20.
This time, due to the need for speedy election of leaders during the crisis, large-scale polling has been avoided. The president of the country is elected by the votes of the people’s representatives in the parliament instead of the people’s vote. Sri Lanka’s new presidential election is three-way.
Ranil Wickramasinghe was already ahead of the analysts. However, the protesters see him as an ally of the Rajapakse family.
Gotabaya Rajapakse has recently fled the country in the face of protests that have been going on for several months. First he took refuge in Maldives, then Singapore.
Gotabaya announced his resignation from there. Earlier, his two brothers Mahinda Rajapakse and Basil Rajapakse were forced to step down as Prime Minister and Finance Minister respectively.
The SLPP is still the majority of the Rajapaksed party in the Lankan Parliament. They supported Ranil Wickremesinghe in the new presidential election. Analysts believe that Sri Lanka may become more angry because Ranil is the president.
Earlier, Ranil declared a nationwide state of emergency with the responsibility of the acting president.
Source: BBC.
