Sri Lanka parliament confirms three-way fight for president
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Demonstrators want Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, seen as an ally of Mr Rajapaksa, gone too.
PHOTO: AFP
COLOMBO (REUTERS, AFP) - Three candidates were nominated on Tuesday (July 19) to replace former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and resigned last week over the island’s worsening economic crisis.
The winner will take charge of a bankrupt country that is in talks with the IMF for a bailout as its 22 million people endure severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines.
Six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as acting president after a popular uprising amid a devastating economic crisis forced previous incumbent Mr Rajapaksa to flee to Singapore and resign.
Demonstrators, angered by rocketing prices and shortages of food and fuel, want Mr Wickremesinghe, seen as an ally of Mr Rajapaksa, gone too.
The other candidates in the fray are Mr Dullas Alahapperuma, a 63-year-old senior ruling party lawmaker who served as the minister of mass media and as a cabinet spokesperson, and leftist leader Anura Dissanayake.
The parliament announced the three candidates' nominations on Tuesday.
Lawmakers will place their votes in a secret ballot on who will complete Mr Rajapaksa's term, scheduled to end in 2024, on Wednesday.
Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party and the son of an assassinated president, withdrew on Tuesday from the race to become president in order to support his rival candidate.
"For the greater good of my country that I love and the people I cherish, I hereby withdraw my candidacy for the position of president," Mr Premadasa said on Twitter.
His party and "our alliance and our opposition partners will work hard towards making" Mr Alahapperuma the winner, he added.
Political sources said the two had struck a deal overnight for one to be president and the other prime minister and to work to form a unity government to navigate the country’s worsening economic crisis.
But Mr Wickremesinghe, 73, a veteran political operator, has the formal backing of the leadership of the SLPP, which remains the largest party in the 225-member parliament.
But Mr Wickremesinghe, 73, a veteran political operator, has the formal backing of the leadership of the SLPP, which remains the largest party in the 225-member parliament.
The third candidate Mr Dissanayake, 53, is leader of the leftist JVP, or People’s Liberation Front, which has three parliamentary seats.
A possible fourth candidate, former army chief Sarath Fonseka, failed to get support from legislators to enter the presidential race.
Hit hard by the pandemic and tax cuts by the Rajapaksa government, Sri Lanka is in the midst of its worst economic crisis since it won independence from Great Britain in 1948.
Sri Lankan students and other groups planned to protest on Tuesday against Mr Wickremesinghe's bid for president.
Inflation of over 50 per cent and shortages of food, fuel and medicines have brought thousands onto the streets in months of protests that culminated in Mr Rajapaksa's ouster.
India is willing to make more investments in Sri Lanka after supporting it with US$3.8 billion (S$5.3 billion) this year, New Delhi’s envoy in Colombo told the Indian Express newspaper.
“The idea is to respond to Sri Lanka’s requests for enabling them to meet their foreign exchange crisis,” said Mr Gopal Baglay, India’s high commissioner in Sri Lanka.
“We would like to continue to bring more investment into Sri Lanka because that will help create medium- and long-term capacity to respond within the Sri Lankan economy.”
“The idea is to respond to Sri Lanka’s requests for enabling them to meet their foreign exchange crisis,” said Mr Gopal Baglay, India’s high commissioner in Sri Lanka.
“We would like to continue to bring more investment into Sri Lanka because that will help create medium- and long-term capacity to respond within the Sri Lankan economy.”
