Sri Lankan Parliament Appoints Wickremesinghe As New President

The Sri Lankan Parliament have appointed six-time prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president.

Official results gave the veteran politician 134 votes, an absolute majority in the 225-member parliament after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned in the wake of protesters overrunning his palace.

“Our divisions are now over,” Wickremesinghe said in a brief acceptance speech in the parliament, urging his defeated rivals to “join me and work together to bring the country out of the crisis we are facing.”

Wickremesinghe takes charge of a bankrupt nation that is in bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund, with its 22 million people enduring severe shortages of food, fuel, and medicines.