In politics for decades
Sri Lankan parliament elects new president

20/07/2022, 11:17

Ranil Wickremesinghe is one of Sri Lanka’s most experienced politicians. Now he won the island nation’s presidential election and vowed to “lead the country out of crisis.” However, the protest movement sees the 73-year-old as an ally of the runaway former president.

Sri Lanka’s interim president Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected as the new head of state in the South Asian crisis nation. According to the results of the official ballot, the 73-year-old received 134 votes in parliament. Former Education Minister Dullas Alahapperuma received 82 votes. Only three MPs voted for the leader of the left-wing opposition JVP party, Anura Dissanayak.

The division of the country has now been overcome, Wickremesinghe said in a brief acceptance speech to Parliament. He asked Alahapperuma to join him and “work together to lead the country out of the crisis.”

Wickremesinghe is one of the country’s most experienced politicians. The 73-year-old began his political career in parliament in 1977 and became prime minister six times. He is a trained lawyer and comes from a family of politicians. However, in the August 2020 parliamentary election, his own party won only one seat. After President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled due to mass protests, Wickremesinghe previously took over temporarily.

Protest movement announces demonstration

Observers assume that Wickremesinghe will act decisively as president. He is now expected to appoint Minister of Public Administration Dinesh Gunawardena as the new Prime Minister. He is a devoted devotee of Rajapaksa. Because of his ties to the former president, mass protests have called for Wickremesinghe’s resignation as prime minister for weeks. Demonstrators have announced that they will continue to protest against him.

Sri Lanka, with about 22 million people, is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. Therefore, the government has requested, among others, the International Monetary Fund, India, China, Russia and other countries. In the southern island nation of India there is a shortage of fuel, cooking gas, medicine and food. The heavily indebted country lacked the money to import essential goods. High inflation and an hour-long power outage also caused great hatred. The reasons for the crisis are manifold – including mismanagement and corruption, but also the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the vital tourism sector hard.