Sri Lankan President signs resignation letter

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday signed his resignation letter dated July 13 which will be handed over to the Speaker of Parliament to make a public announcement on Wednesday.

The resignation letter of the President was signed and handed over to a senior Government official who will hand it over to the Parliament Speaker. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena who has been informed of the letter will then make a public announcement on Wednesday ending Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s presidency, ‘Daily Mirror’ reported. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday will be sworn in as the President for a temporary period till a new President is elected by Parliament on July 20. Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena in a statement said party leaders had decided to elect a new President on July 20 through a vote in Parliament in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.

Nominations for the presidency will be called for on July 19. So far the two confirmed candidates are the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa who on Monday already informed that he is ready to rebuild Sri Lanka’s economy. Sri Lankan President, who announced his resignation on Saturday, was earlier said to have fled and was in a third country.

Speaker of Sri Lanka’s Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Monday clarified that Gotabaya Rajapaksa is still in the country. Sources close to the President confirmed that Rajapaksha was protected by the Armed Forces.

Just before a crowd stormed the President’s residence on July 9, Rajapaksa was evacuated from the President’s House in Fort by the security forces and was protected on a naval vessel within the territorial waters of the country for security reasons.

Basil Rajapaksa stopped from leaving country: BASIL Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former finance minister and younger brother of embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was turned back at Colombo airport on Tuesday as he attempted to leave the country through the VIP terminal, an immigration officer said, amid mounting anger against the powerful family for mishandling the worst economic crisis. Basil Rajapaksa, 71, tried to leave the crisis-hit island nation.