The speaker of parliament in crisis-hit Sri Lanka has officially accepted a resignation letter from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, having verified its authenticity after it was flown from Singapore.
"From this point, we will move to constitutionally appoint a new president," the speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, said.
Mr Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka on Wednesday amid a wave of unrest as his island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades.
He arrived in Singapore following a stopover in the Maldives.
Mr Abeywardana said the parliament would convene on Saturday to start the process of electing a new president.
He expected the process would be finalised within seven days.
The new president will serve the remainder of Mr Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in 2024.
That person could potentially appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by parliament.
Earlier, the news of his resignation email triggered jubilation in the commercial quarter of Colombo, where protesters massed outside the presidential secretariat, defying a city-wide curfew.
Crowds set off firecrackers, shouted slogans and danced ecstatically at the "Gota Go Gama" protest site, named mockingly after Mr Rajapaksa's first name.
"The whole country celebrates today," Damitha Abeyrathne, an activist, said. "It's a big victory."
"We never thought we would get this country free from them," she added, referring to the Rajapaksa family who dominated the South Asian country's politics for two decades.
Mr Rajapaksa submitted his resignation by email late on Thursday but it would only become official once the document had been legally verified, a spokesperson said earlier.
Mr Rajapaksa's decision on Wednesday to make his ally, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the acting President triggered more protests, with demonstrators storming parliament and the Prime Minister's office, demanding that he quit too.
One protester died this week during clashes with police and dozens more were injured.
Member of parliament Terai Cabella Soria said political leaders now needed to work to stabilise the country.
"So it's the responsibility of the parliament to understand the sentiments of the people and then bring legislative changes … like a new constitution, and go for an election."
Protests against the economic crisis have simmered for months and came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over government buildings in Colombo, blaming the Rajapaksa family and their allies for runaway inflation, shortages of basic goods and corruption.
ABC/Wires
