MADRID, July 9 (.) –
The president of the Sri Lankan Parliament, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardene, announced this Saturday that the country’s president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has informed him that he will resign from office next Wednesday, July 13.
According to sources consulted by the Sri Lankan press, Rajapaksa has informed Abeywardene of his decision in a private communication in which he has asked for until Wednesday to prepare the transition and close pending issues, reports the Sri Lankan newspaper ‘Daily Mirror’.
According to what was agreed by the Sri Lankan political forces, once Rajapaksa resigns, it will be the president of Parliament who will assume the head of state –in accordance with the Constitution– and for a period of 30 days in which Parliament will elect a new president .
The popular revolution that broke out this Saturday in Sri Lanka has thus forced the resignation of Rajapaksa, who has announced that he is leaving office after giving in to pressure from multiple fronts from the country’s political formations and civil associations due to his inability to tackle the crisis. most serious economic crisis in the nation’s history.
Rajapaksa thus gives in after months of protests over the lack of food and fuel that have finally led to widespread criticism of the president, accused of corruption and nepotism by placing his brother Mahinda as prime minister until he was finally forced to force his cease in May, again due to popular pressure.
Mahinda’s successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, Rajapaksa’s old rival and the president’s last option to solve the crisis, ended up resigning hours earlier to make way for a concentration government whose main function will be to call new elections.
