Lanka crisis
Sri Lanka Parliament to elect new president on July 20
Colombo/IBNS: Sri Lankan Parliament will vote to elect a new president on July 20, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced on Monday.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will resign next Wednesday, after months of protest against him amid an unprecedented economic crisis in the island nation.
"Nominations for the next president will be presented to parliament on 19 July. On 20 July parliament will vote to elect a new president," Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a statement.
The Sri Lankan Parliament will reconvene on July 15 to announce the vacancy.
He was on Monday flown to an airbase near the main international airport, media reports said, raising speculation he will flee into exile abroad.
Rajapaksa fled the presidential palace in Colombo under naval protection on Saturday, shortly before tens of thousands of protesters barged into the compound.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had also announced that he will resign from his post in order to ensure the continuation of the government and the safety of all the citizens.
"To ensure the continuation of the Government including the safety of all citizens I accept the best recommendation of the Party Leaders today, to make way for an All-Party Government. To facilitate this I will resign as Prime Minister," he had tweeted on Saturday.
On Saturday, hundreds of thousands of protesters demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stormed the President's House here on Saturday after overcoming stiff resistance put up by security forces, leaving an unspecified number of people injured.
Later, they set the PM's house on fire too and damaged his vehicles.
If both the president and prime minister resign, the Speaker will serve as acting president for a maximum of 30 days, as per the country's constitution.
President Rajapaksa had appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May this year after his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced to resign amidst growing pressure on the government over the mismanagement of the economy.
The nation of 22 million people is struggling under a severe foreign exchange shortage that has limited essential imports of fuel, food and medicine, plunging the country into the worst economic crisis in decades.
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