Ranil Wickremesinghe was voted in as Sri Lanka’s president backed by a majority of lawmakers from ousted leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s party, a development that could reignite street protests in the bankrupt nation and scuttle bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund.
Wickremesinghe, 73, beat Dullas Alahapperuma, an opposition-backed candidate who had the support from a faction within the ruling party, and left-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake from the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. He secured 134, or more than 50%, of the votes cast in parliament on Wednesday.
The leader described the victory as an “honor and a privilege,” as he addressed parliament soon after the results were announced.
While Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party has not formally split — fissures have appeared as the group struggles to deal with the anti-government anger across the country. The main focus of the demonstrator’s ire was the former president, who fled the country and resigned, after months of protests calling for his ouster culminated in thousands of demonstrators on July 9 storming his official residence.
However, the new president is also deeply unpopular among the protesters, who have been demanding his resignation as well. They allegedly set fire to his personal residence earlier this month and occupied his office. Demonstrators also attempted to storm parliament last week, prompting Wickremesinghe, who was hastily named acting president then, to announce emergency rule — giving the army and police powers to detain and arrest people. He has blamed “fascist” elements for escalating tensions.
Already the protests — which had briefly abated after Rajapaksa stepped down — have sporadically resumed. On Wednesday, a small group gathered outside the presidential secretariat after the results of the vote chanting, “Ranil, Ranil you have failed.” Small crowds also gathered at the nearby oceanfront protest site in Colombo that was the epicenter of the movement that pushed Rajapaksa out.
The new leader will struggle to gain public trust because “the population at large knows that he has been the nominee of the Rajapaksas, against whom the protest movement was focused,” said Jehan Perera, executive director at the National Peace Council in Sri Lanka. “There is always a possibility of new protests being reignited.”
The lack of stability will also slow down efforts for the South Asian island nation to emerge from the worst economic and political crisis of its independent history. Food, fuel and medicines are all in short supply and inflation is seen touching 70%.
Wickremesinghe is looking to speak to all the political parties starting Thursday and the discussions will include forming an all-party government. As president, he also has the executive power to appoint a new premier, a job he currently holds himself.
The rupee was little changed in intraday trading at 362 per dollar. Dollar bonds due in 2030 were indicated 0.46 cents higher at 23.39 cents on the dollar.
Opposition candidate Dissanayake said the result did not reflect the reality on the ground. “It shows a perversion of the people’s wishes,” the lawmaker said in parliament. “There is a big gap between the assembly here and the people outside.”
On Monday, Wickremesinghe had laid out what he had done since being appointed prime minister by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in May when the largely peaceful protests turned bloody, forcing the resignation of older brother and strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Wickremesinghe said he had led the country close to a conclusion in negotiations with the IMF for a bailout program and made progress in “discussions for assistance” with foreign countries.
The veteran politician was first elected to the legislature in the late 1970s and had an unbroken streak in parliament until 2020, when his party was trounced after the Easter Sunday bombings. The party didn’t win a single seat in the election but he returned as lawmaker through a system where parties with enough votes can nominate a member under the “national list.
