Sri Lanka Crisis: Wickremesinghe has served as the Prime Minister of the country four times.
Colombo:
Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has just one seat in the 225-member parliament, could become the next prime minister, media reports said on Thursday amid the worst economic crisis in the debt-ridden island nation.
The 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader held talks with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday and is expected to meet again on Thursday, Colombo Page newspaper reported.
Mr Wickremesinghe, who has served as the country’s prime minister four times, was removed from the post of prime minister by the then President Maithripala Sirisena in October 2018. However, he was reinstated as Prime Minister by Mr. Sirisena two months later.
According to political sources, the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), a section of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balvegaya (SJB) and several other parties have expressed their support to show a majority for Mr Wickremesinghe in Parliament.
The report said that Wickremesinghe will take oath as the new prime minister on Thursday or Friday.
UNP president Vajira Abhayawardene has said that Wickremesinghe will be able to secure a majority in parliament after being sworn in as the new prime minister, replacing Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned on Monday.
The country’s oldest party, the UNP, won just one seat in the last parliamentary elections of 2020.
In a late-night televised address to the nation, the president declined to step down on Wednesday but promised this week to appoint a new prime minister and a youth cabinet, amid protests over the country’s worst-hit economic situation. It will introduce significant constitutional reforms to curb its powers. The crisis ousted his older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is in security at a naval base after violent attacks on his allies.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The crisis is partly due to a lack of foreign exchange, meaning the country cannot pay for imports of staple foods and fuels, leading to an acute economic crisis. Scarcity and very high prices.
Since April 9, thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across Sri Lanka to demand the resignation of the Rajapaksa brothers.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)