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dpa ColomboSri Lanka’s caretaker President Ranil Wickremesinghe was officially elected the country’s new head of state in a vote held by members of parliament on Wednesday, following weeks of mass protest.Wickremesinghe, 73, backed by the ruling Sri Lanka’s People’s Party, received 134 votes to senior ruling party legislator Dullas Alahapperuma’s 82 votes. A third candidate received three votes.Wickremesinghe, who has also been serving as prime minister, now officially takes on the role of president.He is one of the nation’s most experienced politicians, coming from a family of lawmakers and having served as prime minister a total of six times.Wickremesinghe is to name a new prime minister after he is sworn in.“I will expect the support of all parties including the opposition to work together on a new strategy to fulfil the aspirations of the people,” Wickremesinghe told parliament after his election.His most pressing issues will be addressing the fuel shortages that are causing lengthy queues at petrol stations, sparking protests across the island.Wickremesinghe, the sole member from his party in parliament, was previously chosen as prime minister after the previous holder of the post, Mahinda Rajapaksa, stepped down on May 9 amid a wave of violence.Since then, Wickremesinghe acted to address a shortage of gas to enable people to cook food and the lack of fertilizer supplies for agriculture.As the political and economic turmoil flared earlier this month, Wickremesinghe was named caretaker president after former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country on July 13.Rajapaksa was forced to resign after tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest, angered by the country’s economic collapse.Sri Lanka, an island state of some 22 million people, faces drastic shortages of fuel, food and medicine amid its most severe economic crisis in decades, due to a combination of mismanagement and poor policy decisions. The situation was exacerbated by the loss of tourism income due to the pandemic.Heavy security was deployed around the parliamentary complex during Wednesday’s vote though no demonstrations were organized.Street protests waned after Rajapaksa fled the island nation.Most of the protesters who stormed the president’s office and the prime minister’s official residence on July 9 left the locations last week.It was unclear if Wickremesinghe’s election would further calm the unrest.Protesters who campaigned for months against Rajapaksa also oppose Wickremesinghe as they see him as an ally of the former president and have vowed to keep demonstrating.Sri Lanka has appealed to the International Monetary Fund for a bailout package, but the political turmoil has delayed the discussions.
