Sri Lanka's parliament will vote for a president to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the South Asian country last week, with protesters bracing for a crackdown from his likely successor
The bankrupt nation is in bailout talks with the IMF, with its 22 million people enduring severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.
Analysts say the frontrunner is Ranil Wickremesinghe, a six-time former prime minister who became acting president after his predecessor resigned, but is despised by the protesters who see him as a Rajapaksa ally. An opposition MP said Wickremesinghe's hardline stance against demonstrators was going down well with MPs who had been at the receiving end of mob violence, and most SLPP legislators would side with him.
"Ranil has regained the acceptance of the urban middle classes by restoring some of the supplies like gas and he has already cleared government buildings showing his firmness," Perera said. Alahapperuma pledged this week to form "an actual consensual government for the first time in our history".
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