Popular opposition to Ranil Wickremesinghe’s election by MPs could spill over into violence as he picks an old schoolmate as PM
Sri Lanka was braced for more unrest after newly appointed president,
Sri Lanka’s police chief and top military brass stood behind the new president as the oath was administered in the presence of parliamentary speaker Mahinda Abeywardana. Among the MPs who gathered afterwards to congratulate him was the former president and prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is the older brother of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.Wickremesinghe was expected to name the leader of the parliament and old schoolmate Dinesh Gunawardena as prime minister.
After being selected by MPs as president, Wickremesinghe called on the opposition parties for an “end to division” and said he wanted to “bring everyone together so that a national consensus is formed as to the way forward”. With recriminations swirling in Sri Lanka about the country’s implosion, the head of the CIA weighed into the debate on Wednesday by blaming “dumb bets” on high-debt Chinese investment.
“That, I think, ought to be an object lesson to a lot of other players – not just in the Middle East or South Asia, but around the world – about having your eyes wide open about those kinds of dealings.”
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