COLOMBO (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Ranil Wickremesinghe, 73-year-old man, of Sri Lanka was sworn in as president amid expectations that he will help the nation’s struggling economy.
On Thursday, Ranil took his oath within the parliament complex which was guarded heavily.
The public has a very negative opinion of Mr. Wickremesinghe, the former prime minister, but some demonstrators have stated they would give him a chance.
A severe economic crisis has caused months of widespread unrest in Sri Lanka.
Many consider Mr. Wickremesinghe to be a contributing factor in the Rajapaksa administration’s mismanagement of the country’s finances. However, the day after Mr. Wickremesinghe won the parliamentary vote, there weren’t many protests in the streets.
He was there, and they would see what his actions were. They would be living on the streets if they didn’t get any medication or food, said a woman to BBC. She had participated in protests last week.
The Sri Lanka’s People’s Front (SLPP), the party in power under Rajapaksa, supported Mr. Wickremesinghe in his bid to win a majority in the legislature, and he made a concerted effort to disassociate himself from the previous leaders.
He didn’t get along with the Rajapaksas. He was people’s friend, he said on Wednesday following the defeat of his major opponent, a dissident SLPP MP, by 134 votes to 82.
The opposition indicated on Thursday that they would be open to working with Mr. Wickremesinghe. His cabinet is reportedly going to include opposition MPs, the local media reported.
However, a lot of demonstrators have expressed hopelessness and disappointment over the election of a Rajapaksa ally.
Jeana De Zoysa, an activist, told the BBC that the outcome totally disgusted her. She found it incomprehensible that 134 individuals, MPs who were tasked with representing the people, had utterly disregarded their needs.
In order for the nation to begin talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package, believed to be worth roughly $3 billion, Mr. Wickremesinghe is working to regain political stability.
Due to severe shortages of food, fuel, and other necessities, as well as the fact that the country is almost bankrupt, Sri Lanka has been racked by protests for months.
Last week, tens of thousands of protestors marched through Colombo’s streets demanding that Mr. Wickremesinghe and former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa step down.
On the morning of July 13, after demonstrators had surrounded and taken over his political residence, Mr. Rajapaksa left the nation. He took a plane to Singapore, then to the Maldives before issuing his formal resignation.
When Mr. Rajapaksa escaped, Mr. Wickremesinghe, who had earlier offered to do so, chose to remain in office as Acting President.
After protestors stormed and occupied government facilities last week, he took over as acting president and instructed the military to take whatever action was required to restore peace.
To put a halt to any flare-ups, he also extended a nationwide state of emergency order this week.
Mr. Wickremesinghe, a former six-term prime minister, lost his first two bids for the presidency. He will complete the remainder of the presidential term, which runs through November 2024, thanks to his victory on Wednesday.
