Wickremesinghe Takes Oath as Sri Lanka's President as Protesters Call to 'Set Parliament on Fire'

Six-time prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, emerged victorious on Wednesday from the parliamentary vote to elect a new president for 28 months. The position was vacated when Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned. However, protesters refused to acknowledge Wickremesinghe as people's president, labeling him yet another manifestation of Rajapaksa's regime.

Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday took the oath as the 8th Executive President of Sri Lanka after securing 134 votes in the secret ballot that was held in Parliament on 20 July.

He took his oath before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Parliamentary complex.

The 73-year-old politician, a lone Parliament member, defeated presidential hopefuls Dullas Alahapperuma and Anura Kumara Dissanayake by receiving support from Mahinda Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

However, the outcome does not sit well with protesters across the country who have been calling for him to resign for weeks.

Wasantha Mudalige, convener of the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF), said that the anti-government protesters should not be blamed if Parliament is set on fire.

"The power of the people ensured that both Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and [his brother and prime minister] Mahinda Rajapaksa were removed from office. The same power will ensure Ranil Wickremesinghe steps down too," a furious Mudalige said in a press briefing.

The youth leader warned the government of severe consequences if it did not take action on proposals put forward by the protesters in the past two or three weeks.

The anti-government protesters, who took to the streets over the economic crisis earlier this year, believe parliament isn't representing the people's interests and that Wickremesinghe's appointment as president illustrated how cut off the parliamentarians are.

Praising security forces shortly after winning the presidential race, Wickremesinghe warned of legal action against those who occupied the President's and the Prime Minister's offices.

"We will deal with them firmly according to the law. We will not allow a minority of protesters to suppress the aspirations of the silent majority clamoring for a change in the political system," he said.

Less than an hour after he was elected, a court order prohibited anyone from congregating within a 50-metre radius of a statue at Galle Face, the landmark where thousands of people have camped for months.

On 9 July, thousands of protesters set Wickremesinghe's private house on fire after they occupied the President's House and Secretariat. Amid the unrest, Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Singapore via the Maldives, and his resignation was formally announced on 15 July.

Experts Call for Immediate Global Action

On Thursday, UN experts expressed alarm about record inflation, rising commodity prices, power cuts, a crippling fuel crisis, and economic collapse in Sri Lanka, as the country grapples with unprecedented political turmoil.

"Sri Lanka's economic collapse needs immediate global attention, not just from humanitarian agencies, but from international financial institutions, private lenders and other countries who must come to the country's aid," the experts said.

In July 2022, inflation in the country hit a record high of 54.6 percent, and food inflation rose to 81 percent.

The UN experts have urged the IMF and other countries to take a humanitarian approach while negotiating the bailout package for the island nation.

On Wednesday, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that the institution is hopeful of concluding the bailout negotiations with Sri Lanka "as quickly as possible".

Sri Lanka's severe shortages of food, fuel, medicines and other essentials were compounded by a "series of ill-conceived economic reforms such as tax cuts and servicing debt payments that ate into the country's forex reserves".

The country of 22 million people is seeking around $4Bln in loans from IMF. It owes $51Bln in debt, primarily to venture funds and multilateral institutions, and defaulted on interest payments of around $7Bln this year.