Lagatar24 Desk
Colombo, July 16: Ranil Wickremesinghe, the country’s acting president, and Sajith Premadasa, the head of the main opposition, are two of the four candidates vying to be the nation’s next president.
After massive protests against Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government over the nation’s economic collapse, he resigned and lawmakers convened on Saturday to begin the process of picking a new president to succeed him.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the Marxist JVP, and Dullas Alahapperuma, a candidate for the breakaway SLPP, are the other two leaders who have so far declared their candidacy to run in the July 20 vote in Parliament to replace Rajapaksa after he resigned on Thursday for the remainder of his term until November 2024.
Following his resignation, Parliament convened for a brief special session on Saturday to proclaim the opening in the presidency.
After fleeing to the Maldives on Wednesday and arriving in Singapore on Thursday, Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced his resignation in writing on Friday, capping a chaotic 72 hours in the country in which protesters stormed numerous iconic structures, including the President and Prime Minister’s residences.
