Ranil Wickremesinghe becomes Sri Lanka’s acting President as Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees to Maldives

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Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka and took refuge in Maldives on 13 July and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed as acting President.

Important facts

  • Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has asked the military to "do whatever is necessary to restore order" after protesters stormed his office.

  • The decision to depose him intensified further protests and protesters demanded that the Prime Minister should also go.

  • Sri Lanka is grappling with its worst economic crisis in decades.

  • Many blame the Rajapaksa administration for the crisis and see Wickremesinghe, who became prime minister in May, as part of the problem.

  • For the second time in less than a week, protesters ransacked the prime minister's office, a highly secure state building.

  • The Prime Minister, exercising his new powers, imposed a night curfew.

Srilanka’s crisis

  • Sri Lanka, a country with a population of 22 million, is in the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials.

  • Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said last week that Sri Lanka is now a bankrupt country.

  • Due to political corruption, distrust in the government deepened

About Ranil Wickremesinghe

  • Wickremesinghe was sworn in as prime minister in May 2022, months after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to oust his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa.

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