Sri Lanka’s Parliament has elected Ranil Wickremesinghe as the country’s new president, despite his growing unpopularity among anti-government protesters who viewed him as an ally of his predecessor.
Wickremesinghe, who was serving as interim president, expressed gratitude for the votes and called for unity with his opponents, including the opposition leader, to revive the country’s collapsed economy.
“We have to create a new strategy to move forward,” he said. “People are demanding not the old politics. They ask the Parliament to carry forward the work in a united manner.”
Wickremesinghe, who previously had served as prime minister, replaces Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country after anti-government protesters stormed his official residence to demand his resignation.
Protesters had previously seized and burned down his house to demand his resignation as prime minister. Wickremesinghe imposed a state of emergency after being sworn in as interim but revoked the order hours later.
Collapsed Economy
Wickremesinghe has been leading the government’s efforts to negotiate a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and seek loan packages from major lending partners, including China, India, and Japan.He declared Sri Lanka bankrupt on July 5 and said the government would need to submit its debt restructuring and sustainability plan to the IMF by August.
Sri Lanka has $51 billion in foreign debt, $6.5 billion of which is owed to China. The country defaulted on its debt in May and claimed that it was unable to pay for essential imports.
The country’s unprecedented economic crisis has left millions of its people in need of life-saving aid, with the severe shortages of essential medicines and frequent power cuts jeopardizing the country’s health care system.