New Delhi: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been elected as the country’s new president, replacing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose duties he had been performing since the latter fled the country amid political turmoil.
The 73-year-old was chosen by his fellow parliamentarians after he won 134 of the total 219 valid votes. Other top contenders, ruling-party lawmaker Dullas Alahapperuma (82) and leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukti Peramuna party Anura Kumara Dissanayake (3), came in second and third position respectively.
Wickremesinghe was nominated by the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) but faced a tough competition from 63-year-old Alahapperuma, who had the backing of the Opposition.
However, with the country in a state of complete crisis as food and fuel shortages continue, protestors have repeatedly been asking for the former prime minister and now President Ranil Wickremesinghe to step down from his position.
Wickremesinghe, now the nominal head of the country, must brave the herculean task of bringing its economy back on track and restoring public confidence. The Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay has stated that India shall aid the country to make an “early and effective” recovery.
He further added that India, having already helped Sri Lanka by providing roughly $4 billion in aid, would also bring in more investment into Sri Lanka to rebuild the country’s ailing economy and infrastructures.
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