Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, May 12: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is set to select a new prime minister today to help steer the island nation through an economic crisis and days of horrendous violence that have killed at least eight people.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, a five-time former prime minister, is viewed as the frontrunner to succeed the president’s brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned Monday after violent protests in Colombo. If Wickremesinghe is nominated, he will most likely lead a ‘unity’ government with cross-party support in Sri Lanka’s 225-member parliament.
According to a report by Lanka Mirror, Ranil Wickremesinghe, the leader of the United National Party (UNP), would take oaths as Prime Minister at 6.30 p.m. today.
Notably, a curfew was established in the aftermath of the violence; it was briefly removed this morning to allow people to shop for groceries and other necessities before being re-enforced.
Over 22 million Sri Lankans are facing the country’s biggest economic crisis since independence, with significant shortages of food, medicines, and other necessities, as well as gasoline and petroleum. The crisis was sparked by Sri Lanka’s fast diminishing foreign exchange reserves, which made it increasingly difficult to purchase basic supplies.
