Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was installed on Thursday as the country’s interim president after accepting the resignation of Gotabai Rajapaksa, and before parliament elects a new president on July 20, the office of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly said.
Prior to this, the Speaker of Parliament announced the resignation of President Gotabai Rajapaksa after he fled abroad after demonstrators stormed his residence last week. “Gothabaya has legally resigned,” Mahinda Yapa Abivardana told reporters a day after the resignation was emailed.
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister’s Office announced that Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as acting president on Friday to succeed Gotabai Rajapaksa, who fled to Singapore after months of protests against him.
Wickremesinghe, 73,’s office said in a brief statement that he was sworn in by Chief Justice Jayanta Jayasuriya.
On the other hand, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abivardana’s office announced that presidential nominations would be accepted on July 19, with MPs voting the next day.
