COLOMBO, Sri Lanka –
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s interim president on Friday until parliament chooses a successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after mass protests over the country’s economic collapse forced him from office.
Sri Lanka’s parliament speaker said Rajapaksa has resigned as president effective Thursday and lawmakers will meet on Saturday to choose a new leader. His election would serve out the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term which ends in 2024, President Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana said. He expects the process to be done in seven days.
That person could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament. With Rajapaksa over, the pressure on Wickremesinghe was mounting.
Wickremesinghe in a televised statement said that in his short term, he will initiate steps to change the constitution to curtail presidential powers and strengthen parliament. He also said that he will restore law and order and take legal action against the “insurgents.”
Referring to clashes near Parliament on Wednesday night when many soldiers were reportedly injured, Wickremesinghe said real protesters would not get involved in such actions.
“There is a big difference between the protesters and the insurgents. We will take legal action against the insurgents,” he said.
Opponents had seen Wickremesinghe’s appointment as prime minister in May as relieving pressure on Rajapaksa to resign. He became interim president when Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore on Thursday and his resignation was made official on that date. The prime minister’s office said Wickremesinghe was sworn in as acting president on Friday by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya.
Sri Lanka has run out of money to pay for imports of basic necessities such as food, fertilizer, medicine and fuel, to the despair of its 22 million people. Its rapid economic decline has been all the more shocking because, prior to this crisis, the economy had been expanding, with a growing and affluent middle class.
The protesters cooked and distributed rice pudding, a food enjoyed by Sri Lankans to celebrate victories, after Rajapaksa’s resignation. At the main site of the protest outside the president’s office in Colombo, people welcomed his resignation but insisted that Wickremesinghe should also step aside.
“I’m happy that Gotabaya is finally gone. He should have resigned sooner, without causing much trouble,” said Velayuthan Pillai, 73, a retired bank employee, as patriotic songs blared from loudspeakers.
But he added that “Ranil is a supporter of Gotabaya and other Rajapaksas. He was helping them. He too must go.”
Protesters who had occupied government buildings withdrew on Thursday, restoring a tenuous calm in the capital Colombo. But with the political opposition in Parliament fractured, the solution to Sri Lanka’s many problems seemed no closer.
The nation is seeking help from the International Monetary Fund and other creditors, but its finances are so bad that even getting a bailout has proven difficult, Wickremesinghe said recently.
The country remains a tinderbox, and the military warned on Thursday that it had powers to respond in case of chaos, a message that some found worrying.
Abeywardana promised a speedy and transparent process to elect a new president.
“I ask the honorable and loving citizens of this country to create a peaceful atmosphere to implement proper parliamentary democratic process and allow all members of parliament to participate in meetings and function freely and conscientiously,” he said on Friday.
Protesters accuse Rajapaksa and his powerful in-laws of siphoning money from government coffers for years and accelerating the country’s collapse by mismanaging the economy. The family has denied allegations of corruption, but Rajapaksa acknowledged that some of his policies contributed to the collapse of Sri Lanka.
Maduka Iroshan, 26, a university student and protester, said he was “delighted” that Rajapaksa had resigned, because “he ruined the dreams of the young generation”.
Months of protests reached a frenzied peak over the weekend when demonstrators stormed the president’s home and office and Wickremesinghe’s official residence. On Wednesday, they took over his office.
Images of protesters inside the buildings, lounging on posh sofas and beds, posing at officials’ desks and touring the opulent settings, captured the world’s attention.
Protesters initially vowed to stay until a new government is established, but changed tack on Thursday, apparently concerned that an escalation of violence could undermine their message after clashes outside Parliament left dozens injured.
“The fear was that there could be a crack in the confidence they had for the fight,” said Nuzly, a protest leader who goes by only one name. “We’ve shown what people power can do, but that doesn’t mean we have to take these places.”
Closing the door to the presidential palace after the crowd had left was bittersweet, said Visaka Jayaweer, an artist.
“Taking control of his residence was a great moment. It showed how much we wanted him to step down. But it’s also a huge relief” to leave, he said. “We were worried if people misbehaved, many were angry to see the luxury they had been living in when they were out, struggling to buy milk for their children.”
Rajapaksa and his wife slipped away at night aboard a military plane early Wednesday. On Thursday he traveled to Singapore, according to the city-state’s Foreign Ministry. He said that he had not applied for asylum.
Since Sri Lankan presidents are protected from arrest while in power, it is likely that Rajapaksa wanted to leave while he still had constitutional immunity and access to the plane.
The protests underlined the dramatic fall of the Rajapaksa political clan that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the last two decades.
A military strategist whose brutal campaign helped end the country’s 26-year civil war, Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, who was president at the time, were hailed by the island’s Sinhalese Buddhist majority. Despite allegations of atrocities committed during the war, including ordering military strikes against ethnic Tamil civilians and kidnapping journalists, Rajapaksa remained popular with many Sri Lankans. He has continually denied the allegations.
It was not immediately clear whether Singapore would be Rajapaksa’s final destination, but he has previously sought medical attention there, including heart surgery.