Sri Lanka’s Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as President, amid hopes that he will pull the country out of its economic suffering.
The 73-year-old took his oath at the tightly-guarded Parliament complex on Thursday, July 21, 2022. Mr. Wickremesinghe, the former Prime Minister, is seen as deeply unpopular with the public, but report also suggested that some protesters have said they will give him a chance.
Sri Lanka has seen months of mass unrest over an economic crisis. Many blamed the country’s standing on the Rajapaksa administration for mishandling the nation’s finances, with others seeing Mr. Wickremesinghe as also part of the problem. But there were few demonstrations on the streets the day after Mr. Wickremesinghe won the parliament vote.
“He is here – and we will see what his actions are. If we don’t get any food, any medicine, we’ll be on the streets,” one woman who had joined protests last week told reporters on Thursday, July 21, 2022.
‘Not a Friend of the Rajapaksas’
Mr. Wickremesinghe, who won a majority among lawmakers with the backing of the Rajapaksa’s ruling party, the Sri Lanka’s People’s Front (SLPP), took pains to distance himself from the old leaders.
“I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas. I am a friend of the people,” he told reporters on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, after defeating his main rival, an SLPP Member of Parliament by 134 votes to 82.
On Thursday, July 21, 2022, the opposition signalled they would be willing to work with Mr Wickremesinghe. Local media is reporting that his cabinet is likely to include opposition Members of Parliament. However, many protesters have expressed despair and disappointment over a Rajapaksa-allied politician’s victory. “I am absolutely disgusted at the result… I cannot believe that 134 people – MPs that are supposed to represent the people – have completely disregarded the wants of the people,” an activist, Jeana De Zoysa expressed to the media.
Before the Current State
Now sworn in as President, Mr. Wickremesinghe is aiming to restore political stability of the country as he resumes negotiations with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package, estimated to be about $3bn.
Sri Lanka has been wracked with protests for months because the country is bankrupt and facing acute shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies. Tens of thousands of protesters last week, marched in the streets of Colombo (capital of Sri Lanka) calling for ex-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Mr. Wickremesinghe to resign.
As a result of the unquenched protest, Mr. Rajapaksa fled the country in the early hours of July 13, 2022, after the protesters stormed and occupied his political residence. Reports circulated that he flew to the Maldives and then Singapore, from where he issued his official resignation.
However, Mr. Wickremesinghe did not resign, although he initially offered to, but instead, accepted the position of Acting President when Mr. Rajapaksa fled the country. When he assumed the job of Acting President, he ordered the military to do whatever was necessary to restore public order, following protesters storming and occupying government buildings.
He also extended a national state of emergency order this week to stamp out any flare-ups. Ranil, a former six-time Prime Minister, failed in his previous two runs for the Presidency. His victory on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, means he will serve out the rest of the presidential term until November 2024.
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