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Sri Lanka president vote: Ranil Wickremesinghe wins amid protests
Sri Lanka’s prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has been elected as president to replace the ousted Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a result that is likely to provoke turmoil among protesters who have been calling for weeks for him to resign.
Wickremesinghe, who has been prime minister six times but never president, won an overwhelming victory in parliament on Wednesday morning, where MPs voted for the new president in an unprecedented secret ballot. The vote came after protesters forced Rajapaksa from office amid anger over a spiralling economic crisis.
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There has been fierce resistance and protests on the streets against a Wickremesinghe presidency. Many fear he will protect the Rajapaksas from being held accountable and would not instigate the systemic change being demanded by the protest movement. In recent days, Wickremesinghe, who declared a state of emergency this week, had made statements calling protesters “fascists” and indicating he would crack down on the demonstrations if he became president.
Less than an hour after he was declared president, a court order was issued prohibiting anyone from congregating within a 50 metre radius of a statue that stands at Galle Face in Colombo, the area where anti-government protesters have been camped out for months.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/20/sri-lanka-president-vote-ranil-wickremesinghe-wins-amid-protests
Wickremesinghe, who has been prime minister six times but never president, won an overwhelming victory in parliament on Wednesday morning, where MPs voted for the new president in an unprecedented secret ballot. The vote came after protesters forced Rajapaksa from office amid anger over a spiralling economic crisis.
...
There has been fierce resistance and protests on the streets against a Wickremesinghe presidency. Many fear he will protect the Rajapaksas from being held accountable and would not instigate the systemic change being demanded by the protest movement. In recent days, Wickremesinghe, who declared a state of emergency this week, had made statements calling protesters “fascists” and indicating he would crack down on the demonstrations if he became president.
Less than an hour after he was declared president, a court order was issued prohibiting anyone from congregating within a 50 metre radius of a statue that stands at Galle Face in Colombo, the area where anti-government protesters have been camped out for months.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/20/sri-lanka-president-vote-ranil-wickremesinghe-wins-amid-protests
