President Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa expected to fly to Singapore after fleeing to the Maldives on Wednesday (13/7).
Rajapaksa fled abroad to escape mobs and possible arrests after demonstrations demanding his resignation escalated into chaos and ransacked his home last weekend.
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Rajapaksa fled hours before he was due to resign. However, Rajapaksa ultimately did not announce his resignation as promised on Wednesday.
Sri Lankan government source to Reuters said Rajapaksa was expected to send his letter of resignation to the speaker of parliament after landing in Singapore.
Rajapaksa’s aides and the Singapore government did not immediately respond when asked for this information.
Currently, Wickremesinghe is acting president of Sri Lanka because Rajapaksa fled abroad. He had also declared a national emergency and set a curfew.
However, Wickremesinghe’s policy was soon rescinded after the situation worsened. Thousands of people even stormed the prime minister’s office for refusing Wickremesinghe to become acting president and demanding his immediate resignation.
Even so, Wickremesinghe also did not step down and instead asked the speaker of parliament to immediately choose his successor as prime minister.
Some constitutional experts say if the president and prime minister resign, Sri Lanka’s move is to appoint the speaker of parliament as acting president.
So far, parliament has said it will hold elections in the near future after Rajapaksa officially resigns.
The head of Sri Lanka’s main opposition party is said to be running for the next president following the country’s economic and political turmoil.
“The parliamentary group from Samaggi Jana Balawegaya supports the leader [partai] Sajith Premadasa, “one of the officials told the media on Tuesday (12/7).
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