Sri Lanka’s parliament will elect a new president on July 20, its spokesman said on Monday, after protesters stormed the residences of the current president and prime minister, who have offered to resign amid an economic collapse.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who oversaw a ruthless crushing of Tamil Tiger insurgents as defense secretary, will resign on Wednesday. His brothers and his nephew earlier resigned as ministers when Sri Lanka began to run out of fuel, food and other essentials in the worst crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
Parliament will reconvene on Friday and vote to elect a new president five days later, President Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a statement.
“During today’s meeting of party leaders, it was agreed that this was essential to ensure that a new all-party government is established in accordance with the Constitution,” the statement added.
“The ruling party has said that the prime minister and cabinet are ready to resign to appoint an all-party government.”
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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose private home was set on fire by protesters, has said he will step down. His office said Rajapaksa had confirmed his plans to resign as prime minister, adding that the cabinet would step down once an agreement was reached to form an all-party government.
The political instability could damage negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a rescue package, the central bank governor told Reuters.
Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe indicated he would remain in office, although he said in May he could resign if there was no political stability in the island nation of 22 million people.
Leaders of the protest movement have said that crowds will occupy the residences of the president and prime minister in Colombo until they finally resign from office. Over the weekend at the president’s home, protesters jumped into the pool, lay on a canopy bed, pushed themselves around on a treadmill and tried out couches.
Colombo was quiet on Monday as hundreds of people entered the president’s secretariat and residence and toured the colonial-era buildings. The police did not attempt to intervene.
“We are not going anywhere until this president is gone and we have a government that is acceptable to the people,” said Jude Hansana, 31, who has been at a protest site outside the residence since early April.
Another protester, Dushantha Gunasinghe, said he had traveled 130 km to Colombo, walking part of the way due to lack of fuel.
“I’m so exhausted I can barely speak,” said the 28-year-old sitting outside the president’s office. “I came all this way alone because I think we have to finish this. This government needs to go home and we need better leaders.”
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Police said they had received 17.8 million rupees (about US$50,000) that a group of protesters found at the president’s residence on Saturday. A video of the young people counting the money went viral on social media.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a smooth government transition and “sustainable solutions” to the economic crisis.
Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, whose Samagi Jana Balawegaya party has 54 seats in the 225-member parliament, said he was ready to enter government.
“We as the opposition stand ready to provide leadership to stabilize the country and rebuild the economy,” he said. “We will appoint a new president, a prime minister and we will form a government.”
Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe were not at their residences when protesters stormed the buildings and have not been seen in public since Friday. Rajapaksa’s whereabouts were unclear, but Wickremesinghe’s media team said in a statement that he held a meeting with cabinet ministers at the prime minister’s office on Monday.
Wickremesinghe’s private home in an affluent suburb of Colombo was set on fire on Saturday and three suspects were arrested.
Constitutional experts say that once the president and prime minister resign, the speaker will be appointed as caretaker president before parliament votes for a new president to complete Rajapaksa’s term which is due to end in 2024.
Sri Lankans have mainly blamed Rajapaksa for the collapse of the tourism-dependent economy, which was severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and a ban on chemical fertilizers that damaged agricultural production. The ban was later revoked.
Government finances were crippled by mounting debt and generous tax breaks granted by the Rajapaksa regime. Foreign exchange reserves were quickly depleted as oil prices rose.
The country has barely any dollars left to import fuel, which has been severely rationed, and long lines have formed outside stores that sell cooking gas. Headline inflation hit 54.6 percent last month and the central bank has warned it could rise to 70 percent in coming months.
The political crisis sent government bonds, already in default, to new lows. The 2025 bond fell as low as 2.25 cents on the dollar, while most were now below 30 cents, or 70 percent below face value.
Lutz Roehmeyer of Capitulum Asset Management, which owns Sri Lankan dollar bonds, said an IMF deal could happen this year or next, but for bondholders, a restructuring is likely only in 2024 or 2025, not the next year.
“It’s total chaos,” Roehmeyer said. “The expectations are that the transition of power will be more chaotic and it will take longer to reach an agreement.”