Wickremesinghe voted in as Sri Lanka's next president

Sri Lanka's Parliament voted for Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe as president yesterday, replacing Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad during widespread protests against the country's dire economic crisis.

Mr Wickremesinghe, 73, hitherto caretaker prime minister, had been acting president since last Friday, when Mr Rajapaksa sent in his resignation from Singapore.

The six-time prime minister was also the most unpopular candidate in the race, as protesters see him as a stand-in for Mr Rajapaksa.

Speaking in Parliament soon after the voting, Mr Wickremesinghe called on his opponents to join him in solving Sri Lanka's problems.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who took 134 votes, is the only parliamentarian from the United National Party (UNP).

Former media minister Dullas Alahapperuma, who is from an independent faction in the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), received 82 votes, while Mr Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna party, garnered three votes.

It was the first time in 44 years that Sri Lanka's Parliament directly elected a president, with a total of 223 votes cast. Two MPs abstained and two votes were invalid.

The SLPP, which has the majority despite defections, backed Mr Wickremesinghe, since Mr Rajapaksa had appointed him as prime minister in May following his brother Mahinda's resignation under nationwide pressure from protesters.

On Tuesday, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa withdrew his candidacy and said his Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, which has around 50 seats, would back Mr Alahapperuma "for the greater good of my country".

The SJB, the Tamil National Alliance that represents the Tamil minority, and other parties threw their weight behind Mr Alahapperuma.

Sources in the SJB suggested that Mr Premadasa had been vying to be appointed prime minister, but it is unclear if that will happen under Mr Wickremesinghe. Mr Premadasa left the UNP in 2020 to start the SJB.

The Tamil National People's Front decided to abstain from voting, saying on Monday that none of the presidential aspirants backed their call for devolving more powers to Tamil-dominated regions.

The presidential voting took place amid high military security around Parliament, with the country under a state of emergency that Mr Wickremesinghe had imposed on Monday as acting president.

Sri Lankan protesters had been calling for a new leader to pull the island out of its worst economic and political crisis, which has led to crippling fuel, medicine and food shortages.

The island nation barely has any funds left for importing its essentials. It has defaulted on over US$51 billion (S$71 billion) in foreign debt.

But Mr Wickremesinghe does not seem to have inspired any hope.

Economist and Jaffna University professor Ahilan Kadirgamar said: "Ranil Wickremesinghe is a man who lost his own seat in 2019, and he is the only one from the UNP in Parliament.

"Since he joined hands with the Rajapaksas, he doesn't have any political legitimacy left. He will face a lot of resistance. Sri Lanka will waste a lot of time now."

Ms Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Centre for Policy Alternatives, said: "The big question is how he will form an interim government now, in the context of ongoing protests against him."

Disappointed protesters in front of the presidential secretariat in Galle Face in Colombo announced that they would expand their demonstrations, continuing to shout "Ranil, go home".

Ms Ambika Satkunanathan, former head of the Sri Lankan human rights commission, said: "The best option now would be to go for a general election (for a new government) as soon as practically possible, because any other option would be fractious, probably a farce, and will not bring the stability we need to move towards economic recovery."