Four candidates for presidential poll in Sri Lanka

Colombo, Jul 19 (Prensa Latina) Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa are among the four candidates to the Presidency of the island country, plunged into the biggest crisis in history.

July 19, 2022
08:28

The Parliament met this Tuesday to accept the candidacies for the head of State, whose post has fallen vacant after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned from the presidency, due to unprecedented protests against his government for the economic collapse, Ada Derana web portal stated.

The other contenders in Wednesday’s vote in the Legislature to elect the deposed Rajapaksa’s successor are Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and former Minister of Mass Media Dullas Alahapperuma.

The Parliament met for a brief special session on Saturday to announce the vacancy in the presidency following the resignation of Gotabaya.

As President Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena stated, Sri Lanka’s Parliament will elect a new President on Wednesday, July 20, for the remaining period of the vacant term, until November 2024.

Sri Lanka is going through its worst economic crisis since its independence from the British colonialism in 1948, aggravated by soaring prices of raw materials and commodities.

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