{"id":77476,"date":"2022-05-12T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T04:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77476"},"modified":"2022-05-12T21:33:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-13T01:33:25","slug":"president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-appoints-unp-leader-ranil-wickremesinghe-as-prime-minister-of-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=77476","title":{"rendered":"President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Appoints UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nBy<\/p>\n

Meera Srinivasan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday appointed former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe as Premier, in a bid to restore stability in the island nation in the midst of a political impasse and stifling economic crisis. <\/p>\n

This is the sixth time Mr. Wickremesinghe, 73, has been appointed to the office \u2014 he has never finished a full term \u2014 and will have the task of arresting the devastating impact of the island\u2019s economic downturn, that too under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is fiercely detested by disgruntled citizens demanding his resignation. <\/p>\n

Mr. Gotabaya\u2019s older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as Prime Minister on Monday, hours after his supporters violently attacked anti-government protesters. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mr. Wickremesinghe\u2019s United National Party (UNP) was decimated in the 2020 general elections, in which the Rajapaksas secured a two-thirds majority. Mr. Wickremesinghe is currently the only member of Parliament from his party. Although he lost the 2020 general elections, the UNP nominated him to legislature on the national list, through Sri Lanka\u2019s proportional representation system that allocates political parties a certain number of seats based on total votes polled. <\/p>\n

Just ahead of the 2020 poll, Mr. Wickremesinghe\u2019s former deputy Sajith Premadasa broke away from the UNP and formed the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People\u2019s Force), the main Opposition party now.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wickremesinghe\u2019s majority in Parliament is contingent on substantial support from the ruling party. Most of its members have promised to back him, according to political sources. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa too said he was willing to form a new government if the President committed to stepping down within \u201ca minimum time frame\u201d. Mr. Premadasa made his offer conditional, seeking new laws to strengthen parliament and abolish Executive Presidency. <\/p>\n

Even before Mr. Wickremesinghe was sworn in by the President, some religious leaders objected to the move, contending that it was \u201cnot the solution\u201d people want, and that it would further escalate the crisis. <\/p>\n

Prominent Buddhist monk Omalpe Sobitha Thero said Ranil Wickremesinghe was \u201cnot suitable\u201d for the job. His appointment \u201ccompletely disregarded\u201d the proposal made by their high-ranking monks to appoint an all-party interim government and was aimed at the \u201csole protection\u201d of the Rajapaksas, he said.
\nArchbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, was quoted by local media as saying, \u201cPeople want a person with integrity, not someone who has been defeated in politics.\u201d <\/p>\n

The political opposition too expressed strong disapproval at the President\u2019s choice. Leader of the leftist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Anura Kumara Dissanayake said: \u201cRanil protects the Rajapaksas, and the Rajapaksas protect Ranil. No citizen in this country will fall for their conspiracy this time.\u201d <\/p>\n

Tamil National Alliance lawmaker M.A. Sumanthiran said: \u201cThe President has completely lost legitimacy, people want him to go home, and the Parliament will soon vote on a motion expressing displeasure over him. Mr. Wickremesinghe had no legitimacy in the current Parliament right from the beginning. He did not even win in his constituency.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Parliament stands adjourned till May 17, when the vote on the President is scheduled to be taken up. Mr. Wickremesinghe may face a trust vote soon after. In order to continue as Prime Minister, he must show he has the confidence of the House. <\/p>\n

Mr. Mahinda was one of the first leaders to wish Mr. Wickremesinghe.<\/p>\n

“Congratulations to the newly appointed Prime Minister of #lka, @RW_UNP. I wish you all the best as you navigate these troubled times,” he said in a tweet minutes after his successor was sworn in.<\/p>\n

In a cautiously worded reaction on the development, India said it \u201clooks forward to working with the Government of Sri Lanka formed in accordance with democratic processes pursuant to the swearing in of\u201d Mr. Wickremesinghe. <\/p>\n

The Indian High Commission in Colombo said in a tweet Thursday evening: \u201cHigh Commission of India hopes for political stability and looks forward to working with the Government of Sri Lanka formed in accordance with democratic processes pursuant to the swearing in of Hon\u2019ble @RW_UNP as the Prime Minister of #SriLanka.\u201d India\u2019s \u201ccommitment to the people of Sri Lanka\u201d will continue, the Indian mission added. <\/p>\n

Courtesy:The Hindu<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Meera Srinivasan Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday appointed former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe as Premier, in a bid to restore stability in the island nation in the midst of a political impasse and stifling economic crisis. This is the sixth time Mr. Wickremesinghe, 73, has been appointed to the office \u2014 he has …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘President Gotabaya Rajapaksa Appoints UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77476"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77476"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77477,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77476\/revisions\/77477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}