Ranil Wickremesinghe Tipped to Be Sri Lanka's Next PM, But Leader of Opposition Also Stakes Claim

The state of emergency imposed in Sri Lanka on 6 May was partially lifted for seven hours on Thursday. Violence that rocked the country after supporters of ex-PM Mahinda Rajapaksa attacked anti-government demonstrators resulted in nine deaths and over 220 injuries. Subsequently, the military was called in to check the spread of violence.

Five-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will take the oath as Sri Lanka’s next prime minister at 1:00 pm GMT on Thursday, the Daily Mirror reported.

The decision follows a closed door meeting between President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe on Wednesday evening.

Wickremesinghe is the leader of the United National Party (UNP). In the 2020 parliamentary elections, the UNP suffered a landslide defeat at the hands of Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. At present, the UNP has just a single seat in the Sri Lankan parliament.

Leader of Opposition Says Ready to Be Next PM

Earlier, Sri Lanka's Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa said at a press conference on Thursday afternoon (local time) that he had also indicated his willingness to be the next prime minister of the country in a letter written to President Gotabaya. The letter is dated 12 May and was shared on Twitter by Premadasa's party colleague Harsha De Silva.

Premadasa heads the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, a political group with 54 MPs in the Sri Lankan parliament.

“I am ready to be sworn in as Prime Minister and form an interim government tomorrow if the executive presidency is abolished in a given space of time and that President resigns within a given time frame", Premadasa said in the letter.

“I am willing to have a dialogue with you on economic reforms and resolving the issues faced by the people", he informed the president.

Gotabaya Ready to Abolish Executive Presidency

In an address to the public Wednesday evening, President Gotabaya said that “steps will be taken to form a new government to prevent the country falling into anarchy and to maintain the affairs of the state that have come to a halt”.

In what appeared to be a concession to protesters, Gotabaya also assured that he would enact the 19th Amendment of the constitution, which seeks to devolve powers to the parliament and dilute the executive presidency.

The 19th Amendment was passed in parliament in 2015, but hasn’t been fully implemented yet.

Sri Lanka has been under an executive presidency since 1978.

Sri Lanka has been facing political uncertainty after ex-PM Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned from the prime ministership on Monday, 9 May, following a spate of deadly violence across the nation, which has been rocked by weeks of crippling economic instability and shortages of food, fuel, and other essentials owing to depleting forex reserves.

Anti-government protesters have held the authorities responsible for mishandling the economy and have been demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya as well.

So far, Gotabaya has refused to concede to the demand. The president has made attempts to forge a national unity government with lawmakers from major political groupings as a way out of the current political economic crisis.