Sri Lankans were on the edge on Tuesday as they wondered whether Gotabaya Rajapaksa will honour his offer to resign as President, amid signs that key members of the erstwhile powerful ruling family were attempting to flee in the face of massive public anger.
Rajapaksa, whose whereabouts are not known since Friday, has informed both the Speaker of parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe that he will resign on July 13, days after protesters stormed his official residence in rage over the island nation’s worst economic crisis.
Speaker Abeywardena is expected to publicly announce President Rajapaksa’s resignation to the nation on Wednesday.
President Rajapaksa signed on Monday his resignation letter, dated July 13, and it was later handed over to a senior government official who will give it to the parliament Speaker, according to local media reports.
Ahead of Rajapaksa’s resignation, his younger brother and ex-finance minister Basil Rajapaksa tried to leave Sri Lanka but was stopped by immigration officials at the Colombo airport.
Basil, the 71-year-old leader who is being widely held responsible for the country’s worst economic crisis which has heaped misery on the people, tried to leave the country on Monday night through the VIP terminal at Colombo airport.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s political parties have stepped up efforts to form an all-party government and subsequently elect a new President on July 20 to prevent the bankrupt nation from sliding further into anarchy.
A meeting was held between the main Opposition Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) and former President Maithripala Sirisena’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).
Parties have begun campaigning for the support of possible candidates. The SJB said they will campaign for the appointment of Sajith Premadasa as the interim President.
Premadasa said on Monday that his party was ready to lead the country at the presidential and prime ministerial level and develop the economy.
Under the Sri Lankan Constitution, if both the President and Prime Minister resign, the Speaker of parliament will serve as acting President for a maximum of 30 days.
The parliament will elect a new President within 30 days from one of its members, who will hold the office for the remaining two years of the current term.
The political uncertainty prevails in Sri Lanka where the distribution of cooking gas has resumed alongside the delivery of fuel to retailers by the Indian Oil Company after stoppage on Sunday. Long queues are still seen at fuel pumps.
The price of a 450-gram loaf of bread will be hiked by Rs 20 from midnight on Wednesday while other bakery items will see a price increase of Rs 10 in crisis-hit Sri Lanka due to a spike in the cost of wheat flour, an industry association announced on Tuesday.
The decision to hike the prices was taken due to an increase in the price of a kilogramme of wheat flour by Rs 32 on Monday, Sri Lanka’sDaily Mirror news website quoted the All Ceylon Bakery Owners’ Association President N.K. Jayawardena as saying.
The protesters continue to occupy the three main buildings in the capital, the President’s House, the presidential secretariat, and the Prime Minister’s official residence, Temple Trees, calling for their resignations.
