President Gotabaya Rajapaksa wants to step down on Wednesday facing a dire economic crisis, but the parliament will meet again on July 15 and a new president will be chosen on July 20, according to the house speaker.
“Nominations for the next president will be presented to parliament on 19 July. On 20 July parliament will vote to elect a new president,” Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said in a statement.
This was agreed during the party leaders’ meeting on Monday as being necessary to ensure that a new all-party government is in place and operating in conformity with the Constitution.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who as defense secretary oversaw a merciless defeat of the Tamil Tiger terrorists, is scheduled to step down on Wednesday. Earlier, his brothers and nephew resigned from their positions as ministers as Sri Lanka began to run out of petrol, food, and other necessities in the worst crisis since the country’s 1948 separation from Britain. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced in a statement that Parliament will return on Friday and hold a presidential election five days later.
