Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed as the acting president of Sri Lanka, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on Wednesday, 13 July.
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced that the president has appointed Ranil Wickremesinghe to act on his behalf as he is out of the country, local media reported.
The speaker said that Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed as the acting president as per Article 37 (01) of the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
Wickremesinghe, as acting president, declared a state of emergency in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, following protests in Colombo.
The country's leader of the Opposition, however, has questioned the move and stated, "PM becomes acting President only if the President appoints him as such, or if the office of President is vacant, or if the CJ in consultation with the Speaker forms the view that the President is unable to act. In the absence of any of these, the PM cannot exercise the powers of President, and cannot declare curfew or a state of emergency."
President Rajapaksa had fled the country, along with his wife and two bodyguards on Wednesday morning, days after a sea of anti-government protesters stormed his residence in a massive uprising on Saturday.
The exit to Maldives comes on a day that he was supposed to hand in his resignation.
Protests in Colombo
Soon after the news of the president fleeing emerged on Wednesday, huge protests broke out in the capital city of Colombo again, with demonstrators storming the prime minister's residence.
Visuals showed the police firing tear gas to scatter protesters near Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's office. Gunshots were also fired in the air amid the chaos.
On Monday, PM Wickremesinghe's office said in a statement that Rajapaksa had informed that he would step down on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had also said that he would step down from his position. His house was set on fire during Saturday's unrest.
The country of 22 million people is under the grips of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel, and other essentials. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe had said last week that Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt country.
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