Asia-Pacific

Sri Lanka swears in new president amid threat of further unrest

Ranil Wickremesinghe expected to name Rajapaksa ally as new prime minister

Sri Lanka's newly elected president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, addresses the media during a visit to the Gangaramaya Buddhist temple in Colombo. Photograph: ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images
Sri Lanka's newly elected president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, addresses the media during a visit to the Gangaramaya Buddhist temple in Colombo. Photograph: ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images
Thu Jul 21 2022 - 19:01

Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s new president on Thursday.

Mr Wickremesinghe’s swearing-in comes a day after he won a vote in parliament and urged the country to come together to find a way out of its worst economic crisis in decades.

The six-time prime minister succeeded Gotabaya Rajapaksa who fled Sri Lanka and resigned from his post last week after mass protests over his handling of the economy.

The swearing-in ceremony was conducted in parliament and presided over by the country’s chief justice.

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Mr Wickremesinghe is expected to appoint Dinesh Gunewardena, a former foreign and education minister, as prime minister along with a new cabinet on Friday, four sources, close to Mr Wickremesinghe and Mr Gunewardena, said. Mr Gunewardena is an ally of the ousted Rajapaksa dynasty.

The protest movement that pushed out Mr Rajapaksa — the first sitting Sri Lankan president to quit office — remained largely muted, despite Mr Wickremesinghe’s unpopularity among some sections of the population.

Only a handful of people were outside the presidential secretariat on Thursday, a colonial-era building that was stormed by a sea of protesters earlier this month along with the president and prime minister’s official residences.

But some have vowed to fight on against Mr Wickremesinghe.

“We won’t give up because what the country needs is a total system change,” said Pratibha Fernando, a protester at the secretariat.

Hours after winning the parliamentary vote on Wednesday, Mr Wickremesinghe appeared to distance himself from the powerful Rajapaksa family that has dominated politics in Sri Lanka for decades.

"I am not a friend of the Rajapaksas. I am a friend of the people," he told reporters after praying at a Buddhist temple in the commercial capital Colombo.

Mr Wickremesinghe, who earlier served as prime minister and finance minister under Mr Rajapaksa, has been involved in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package worth up to $3 billion (€2.9bn).

The country of 22 million people has been crippled by a severe financial crisis, with a lack of foreign currency leading to shortages of essentials including fuel, food and medicines.

Inflation hit an annual 59 per cent in June, according to the statistics department. The country’s National Consumer Price Index rose by 58.9 per cent year-on-year in June, against a 45.3 per cent rise in May.

Sri Lanka received fresh diesel supplies over the weekend, and the main state-run distributor, Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, will restart sales under a new rationing system from Thursday onwards, the power and energy ministry said. The country is also looking for assistance from neighbouring India, China and other international partners. — Reuters