sri lanka crisis, Sri Lanka will elect a new president on July 20; First to appoint a president without a mandate – sri lanka president election parliament historically first

Parliament will meet today in Sri Lanka, where internal problems and economic problems are extremely acute. Parliament is meeting today for the first time after the absconding and subsequent resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It is reported that the efforts to find the new president of the country will start from today. This is the first time in the country’s history that the president is appointed by MPs and not by popular vote.

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The presidential election will be held on July 20. The new president will be elected by secret ballot from the 225-member parliament.

Parliament has never voted to elect a president since 1978. Speaker Mahinda Yappa Abbaywardena said on Friday that the newly elected president will serve until November 2024, the remainder of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s term.

Former Prime Minister Renil Wickremesinghe will continue as interim president until the new president arrives. “I am bound to protect the Constitution,” Wickramasinghe said after being sworn in on Friday. At the same time, measures have been announced to reassure the public that the president’s powers are being curtailed.

The opposition has put forward the name of SJB party leader Sajith Premadasa. Chief Marshal Sarath Fonseka has said that he is ready to contest if he has majority support. Meanwhile, there are reports that Wickremesinghe has stepped up his persuasion moves to secure the presidency. Meanwhile, the agitators and opposition parties are of the position that they will not accept him for the presidency.

People took to the streets due to severe economic crisis and difficulty finding money for food, medicine and fuel. Thousands of protestors started the strike demanding a change of power.

After it was confirmed that the president had left the country for fear of the protesters, the presidential palace was occupied.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa were barred from leaving the country by the court. Transparency International Sri Lanka said the Lankan Supreme Court on Friday barred them from leaving the country without permission until July 28.

Apart from that, three other former officials, including two former central bank governors, cannot leave the country without the court’s permission, the anti-corruption group said in a tweet.

The protests started in March due to the bad economic crisis. On March 31, they marched to the residence of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

After the protests intensified, the president dissolved the cabinet and reshuffled the cabinet to include his brother Basil Rajapaksa. Meanwhile, his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa remained as Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, there were changes in the cabinet, but this did nothing to cool down the protesters. Protests intensified with a sit-in outside Gotabaya’s office to remove the president.

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Apart from that, the protest led to riots. Clashes broke out between government supporters and protesters at many places. Then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned. However, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was not ready to resign from the presidency. So the protest continued again.