According to the Speaker of Parliament, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had to flee to the Maldives in the face of protest, appointed the head of government to head the country as provided for in the Constitution.
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In the midst of a crisis, Sri Lanka changes heads of state. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been named interim president after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled abroad. “Due to his absence from the country, President Rajapaksa told me that he had appointed the Prime Minister to act as President, in accordance with the Constitution”said Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Wednesday July 13, in a brief televised address.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who promised to step down on Wednesday, arrived in the Maldives after fleeing the country but has yet to formalize his stepping down as president. The Sri Lankan Constitution provides, in the event of the resignation of the President, that the Prime Minister assumes the interim until the election by Parliament of a deputy who will exercise power until the end of the current mandate, c i.e. November 2024.
But Ranil Wickremesinghe is also challenged by protesters who have been mobilizing for three months. The police thus used tear gas on Wednesday to prevent the crowd from invading his official residence. A curfew has been imposed in the capital province Colombo and the government has declared a state of emergency.