Abeywardana called on all political party leaders, State officials, security forces and the population to provide support to complete the process peacefully, Ada Derana website posted.

On Thursday, Rajapaksa officially resigned from the presidency, giving way to public protests against his Government’s mismanagement of the economy, which led the country to its worst social situation in seven decades, with difficulties to purchase food, medicine and fuel.

Rajapaksa, who fled Sri Lanka early Wednesday aboard a military plane to the Maldives and took refuge in Singapore on Thursday evening, sent his resignation letter by e-mail from abroad.

After the parliamentary speaker released the contents of the letter, demonstrators withdrew from the Government buildings they had occupied for several days in protest for the acute national economic crisis.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in as acting President in front of Jayantha Jayasuriya, president of the Supreme Court, after Rajapaksa’s resignation was accepted.

Abeywardena stated that the Assembly will meet on Saturday and a new speaker is expected to be elected within seven days, in accordance with the provisions of the Sri Lankan Constitution.

Accordingly, the nominations will be convened for Tuesday, July 19, and following the vote in the House, a legislator will be appointed to the presidency.

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