Acting president asks parliamentary speaker to nominate new PM
Even as party leaders resolve Wickremesinghe should quit ahead of the resignation of President Rajapaksa
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s acting president and prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has asked the Speaker of Parliament to nominate a new prime minister, his media team said on Wednesday (13) after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country.
“Acting President and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to nominate a prime minister who is acceptable to both the government and opposition,” the team said in a statement.
Protesters, angered by a severe economic crisis, have sought the ousting of both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders who held a special meeting in Parliament on Wednesday asked Wickremesinghe to quit ahead of the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had promised to step down on Wednesday.
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP M. A. Sumanthiran said the decision to ask Wickremesinghe to quit was taken at an all-party meeting which was attended by leaders excluding those from the government.
He said two unanimous decisions were taken at the meeting, and one was for Wickremesinghe to resign immediately, while the other was for the speaker to sack the Prime Minister before the president’s resignation takes effect.
Meanwhile, Chief Opposition Whip Lakshman Kiriella from the Samagi Jana Balawegaya said the Commanders of the three-armed forces were also present at the meeting.
“The Prime Minister was avoiding the party leaders,” he said.
The Commanders informed that the protesters were near the gates of Parliament, and wanted permission to repel them by using force, he said.
“We said we cannot agree to such a request,” he said, adding that at the last party leaders meeting the call was for the President and the Prime Minister to resign.
The leaders have asked the speaker to sack Wickremesinghe to take up the post of Acting President, and thereafter Parliament is prepared to work with him.
President Rajapaksa on Wednesday fled to the Maldives from where he appointed Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as the acting President, escalating the political crisis and triggering a fresh wave of protests in the country reeling under the worst financial crisis in decades.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena has said that President Rajapaksa has informed him over telephone that he will resign on Wednesday as promised. He said the vote for the new president will take place on July 20.
-Agencies