COLOMBO, Sri Lanka –
Sri Lanka found itself in a political vacuum for a second day on Monday with opposition leaders still not agreeing on who should replace their outright shunned leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters angry at the country’s deep economic woes.
Protesters remained at President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence, his seaside office and the prime minister’s official home, storming on Saturday demanding the resignation of the two leaders. It marked the most dramatic day of protests in three months of an unrelenting crisis that has brought many to the brink of despair amid acute shortages of fuel, food, medicine and other necessities.
The protesters, who come from all walks of life, vowed to stay until the leaders’ resignations are official. Rajapaksa has said that he will step down on Wednesday, according to the parliament speaker.
In a video statement Monday, the first since Saturday’s protests, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe reiterated that he will stay until a new government is established because he wants to work within the constitution.
“A government has to function according to the law. I am here to protect the constitution and, through it, meet the demands of the people. What we need today is an all-party government and we will take steps to establish it,” Wickremesinghe said.
He also explained the sequence of events that led to the burning of his private residence on Saturday. He said angry protesters gathered around his home after a lawmaker, in what Wickremesinghe said was an inaccurate tweet, said he had refused to resign at a meeting of parliamentary party leaders.
“The police charged with batons and fired tear gas. The last option was to shoot. We didn’t shoot but they came and burned the house down,” he said.
“My greatest treasure was my library with 2,500 books,” Wickremesinghe said, adding that it contained books written during the Portuguese and Dutch colonial period of the 16th and 19th centuries. There were ancient books written on Buddhism, those signed by leaders such as former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, historical paintings and Buddhist artifacts, which he had planned to donate to his former school and university after his death. .
He said that all but one painting had been saved.
Wickremesinghe said he took over as prime minister to save the economy and that it would take at least a year to complete the initial steps needed for a full recovery.
Also on Monday, a group of nine cabinet ministers announced they would resign immediately to make way for an all-party government, outgoing Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakshe said. Meanwhile, Wickremesinghe’s office said another group that met with the prime minister has decided to stay until a new government is formed.
The president has not been publicly seen or heard from since Saturday and his location is unknown. But his office said Sunday that he ordered the immediate distribution of a shipment of cooking gas to the public, suggesting he was still at work.
Opposition party leaders have been in talks to form an alternative unity government, an urgent requirement for a bankrupt nation to continue talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout program.
Lawmaker Udaya Gammanpila said the main opposition United People’s Front and lawmakers who have defected from Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition have had discussions and agreed to work together. Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Dullas Alahapperuma, who was a minister under Rajapaksa, have been proposed to take over as president and prime minister and have been asked to decide how to share positions before a meeting with the president. of parliament later on Monday.
“We cannot be in an anarchic condition. We have to come to a consensus somehow today,” Gammanpila said.
Opposition parties are also concerned about military leaders making statements about public security in the absence of a civilian administration.
Lawmakers have discussed Defense Chief of Staff Gen. Shavendra Silva’s statement over the weekend calling for people’s cooperation in maintaining law and order, Premadasa spokesman Kavinda Makalanda said.
“What is needed is a civilian administration, not a military one in a democratic country,” Makalanda said.
If the opposition parties fail to form a government when Rajapaksa steps down, Wickremesinghe, as prime minister, will become interim president under the constitution. However, according to the demand of the protesters, the opposition parties are willing not to allow him to take office even as interim president.
They said Wickremesinghe should resign immediately and allow President Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to be interim president, the next in line under the constitution. The Sri Lanka Bar Association, the country’s leading bar association, has also endorsed that position.
Rajapaksa appointed Wickremesinghe as prime minister in May in an effort to resolve the shortage and start the economic recovery. But delays in easing shortages of basic supplies have sparked public anger against him, with protesters accusing him of protecting the president.
Wickremesinghe had been part of crucial talks with the IMF for a rescue program and with the World Food Program to prepare for an anticipated food crisis. The government must present a plan on debt sustainability to the IMF in August before reaching an agreement.
Sri Lanka relies on help from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the IMF. Wickremesinghe recently said negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.
Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending payments on foreign loans due to a shortage of foreign exchange. Its total external debt amounts to 51,000 million dollars, of which it must pay 28,000 million dollars by the end of 2027.
Months of demonstrations have nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades, but protesters accuse it of mismanagement and corruption.