Wickremesinghe sworn in, plans to set up unity govt

COLOMBO • Sri Lanka's six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in yesterday as president of the crisis-hit island nation, with plans to form a unity government to manage the turmoil.

The 73-year-old veteran politician, who was overwhelmingly elected as head of state in a parliamentary vote on Wednesday, took his oath of office with the country's police chief and top military brass standing behind him.

Mr Wickremesinghe is widely expected to invite his schoolmate and former public administration minister Dinesh Gunawardena to be prime minister in the unity government. But political sources said at least two other candidates were also in the running.

Official sources said the new leader was expected to form a Cabinet not exceeding 30 ministers. Other sources said a few MPs from the main opposition would also join the Cabinet. The new Cabinet members are to be sworn in today.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, who supported a rival presidential candidate in Wednesday's vote, said he met Mr Wickremesinghe to discuss how to protect the country from further "misery and disaster".

"We as an opposition will provide our constructive support for efforts to alleviate human suffering," Mr Premadasa tweeted yesterday.

Mr Wickremesinghe prorogued Parliament for 24 hours yesterday to start a fresh session of the legislature, with Chief Government Whip Prasanna Ranatunga telling reporters that the new President wanted to reconstitute parliamentary committees.

Live coverage of the ceremony to swear in Mr Wickremesinghe at the tightly guarded Parliament complex was cut off just as he and his wife Maithree walked into the building after reviewing a military parade. A top defence official told Agence France-Presse an investigation was under way to probe why the broadcast was interrupted.

After worshipping at a Buddhist temple on Wednesday following his election, Mr Wickremesinghe vowed to take a tough line against troublemakers trying to disrupt his government. He made a distinction between peaceful protesters and "troublemakers" engaging in illegal behaviour.

"If you try to topple the government, occupy the president's office and the prime minister's office, that is not democracy, it is against the law," Mr Wickremesinghe said.

"We will deal with them firmly according to the law. We will not allow a minority of protesters to suppress the aspirations of the silent majority clamouring for a change in the political system."

Mr Wickremesinghe succeeded Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled Sri Lanka and resigned from his post last week after mass protests over his handling of the economy.

A foreign exchange crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic and exacerbated by mismanagement has left Sri Lanka suffering lengthy power blackouts and record high inflation.

The country's 22 million people have also endured months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

Public anger boiled over when tens of thousands of protesters stormed the home of Mr Rajapaksa two weeks ago, forcing him to step down and clearing the way for Mr Wickremesinghe's election.

On Wednesday, Mr Wickremesinghe sought to distance himself from the Rajapaksa family. "I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas. I am a friend of the people," he told reporters after praying at the temple.

The protest movement remained largely muted yesterday, despite Mr Wickremesinghe's unpopularity among some sections of the population. But some have vowed to fight on against him.

Ms Pratibha Fernando, a protester at the presidential secretariat, said: "We won't give up because what the country needs is a total system change. We want to get rid of these corrupt politicians, so that's what we are doing."

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka received fresh diesel supplies at the weekend and the main state-run distributor, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, was set to restart sales under a new rationing system yesterday, said the Power and Energy Ministry.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS