Ranil Wickremesinghe is the new President of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan lawmakers on Wednesday elected former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president of the crisis-hit South Asian country, in a move likely to anger protesters who have been calling for his removal from office for weeks.
Wickremesinghe, a six-time former prime minister and a key ally of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, won a parliamentary vote after his predecessor fled the country amid escalating protests.
The protests came in the wake of an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of essential imports such as fuel, medicine and food.
He received 134 votes out of a possible 223.
Addressing parliament immediately after the result, Wickremesinghe said that while the country was “divided along party lines”, “now is the time to work together”.
Earlier this month, protesters set fire to Wickremesinghe’s private residence and occupied the presidential palace in a desperate bid to topple the government and end the chaos that has engulfed Sri Lanka since March.
The protesters appeared to have scored a victory when Rajapaksa left and Wickremesinghe, then prime minister, vowed to resign to make way for a unity government.
But Wickremesinghe’s appointment on Wednesday threatens to inflame the situation once more as many protesters see him as inextricably linked to the Rajapaksa regime – a view shared by some members of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna political party.
As the vote was taking place, a small group of protesters gathered on the steps of the Presidential Secretariat – the office of the president – to demonstrate against Wickremesinghe’s nomination.
They insist that only a complete overhaul of the government will satisfy their demands.