President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation may have the tendency to be dragged in further until his security is guaranteed, political sources disclosed.
Rajapaksa is believed to have made this decision in the event that he is convinced that he and his family members cannot leave the country from a local airport nor stay in a military camp upon any move to resign from his post amidst growing public objections leading to a potential security risk.
However, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has intervened to solve the matter soon, according to sources.
The Attorney General of Sri Lanka has informed the future necessary action that should be taken in the event of the Presidency becomes vacant prior to the expiration of his term of office replying to query made by the secretary to the Prime Minister relating to this matter, PMs office announced.
In his reply he stated that according to section 40 of the Sri Lanka constitution ,if the office of President becomes vacant prior to the expiration of his term of office, Parliament shall elect the President from one of its members.
The successor will hold office for the rest of the period of the term of the office of the resigning President.
The process electing a new president must be initiated within a month of the President’s resignation.
Parliament should meet within three days of the President’s resignation. At such a meeting, the Secretary-General of Parliament is required to inform the Parliament about the President’s resignation.
If more than one person is nominated for the post, a secret ballot should be taken, and the new president should be elected by an absolute majority of votes cast.
According to the constitution , the Prime Minister should be the Acting President as the next in line to be President for less than a month until the Parliament elects a new President.
According to AGs reply to PMs secretary’s query , the Prime Minister shall appoint one of the other ministers of the Cabinet to act in the office of Prime Minister, if needed.
A petition has been filed with the Supreme Court demanding that a formal probe be made into all those responsible for the current economic crisis in the country and an order be issued for appropriate penalisation.
Four persons including Chandra Jayaratne, a former Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce have filed the petition.
The petitioners point out that the current crisis was caused by the short-sighted economic policies and mismanagement of the Rajapaksa regime and demand the Supreme Court to take immediate action against those held accountable.
Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, former governors of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) W.D. Lakshman and Ajith Nivard Cabraal and several members of the Monetary Board of the CBSL have been cited as respondents to the case.
The petitioners also filed a motion demanding that an order be made barring the accused from leaving the country.
The Supreme Court decided that the petition be taken up on July 27.
Sri Lanka: Opposition leader ready to run for presidency
Sri Lanka’s main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa has told the BBC he intends to run for president, once Gotabaya Rajapaksa steps down.
This comes after his Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party held talks with allies to get support for the move.
Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented economic crisis which has brought thousands to the streets since March.
The country has run out of cash and is struggling to import basic items like food, fuel and medicine.
President Rajapaksa announced that he plans to resign this week, and the Speaker of parliament has said lawmakers will choose the next president on 20 July.
Mr Premadasa told the BBC that his party and allies agreed he should be “putting my nomination for the position of presidency, if a vacancy occurs”.
He lost the presidential election in 2019, and would need the support of the governing alliance MPs to win.
He is banking on getting it due to the popular discontent against Mr Rajapaksa and his family, who have dominated Sri Lankan politics for more than two decades.
The country’s inflation rate reached a whopping 55% in June, and millions of people are struggling to make a living.
Mr Premadasa said he was ready to take part in an all-party interim government.
The SJB leader has been criticised for refusing to take the post of prime minister when it was offered to him in April. His rival Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed – but has also indicated he would resign to make way for a unity government.
Mr Premadasa described the current situation in Sri Lanka as “confused, uncertainty and total anarchy”, saying it needs “consensus, consultation, compromise and coming togetherness”.
Image caption, Sajith Premadasa said the nation needed consensus and compromise
The country’s usable reserves have dropped to around $250m (£210m), according to local media reports.
The crippling shortage of fuel has devastated public transport. There are rolling power cuts as power plants lack enough fuel to function. Schools are closed this week as well due to the fuel crisis. Many people are trying to leave the country.
Mr Premadasa has conceded that there are no quick fixes.
To return the economy to 2019 levels would take approximately four to five years, he said, adding that his party had an economic plan to overcome the crisis.
“We are not going to hoodwink the people. We are going to be frank and present a plan to get rid of Sri Lanka’s economic ills,” Mr Premadasa said.
But the protesters at the Galle Face site in Colombo say that all 225 members of parliament are responsible for the current situation, and they want a new beginning with fresh and energetic people in politics.
The special discussion set to be held between leaders of the ‘non-partisan’ struggle and the political party leaders in Parliament at 2.30 pm today (12) has been postponed due to non-disclosed reasons, reports said.
The party leaders who attended the meeting convened by the Committee on Parliamentary Affairs yesterday agreed to meet the leaders of the struggle.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Committee on Parliamentary Affairs scheduled to be held today has also been dragged in.
The leaders of the struggle held a discussion with Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena today and 25 leaders of the struggle joined the event.
Six members of the Rajapaksa family incuding President Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa have arrived at the Mattala Airport to leave Sri Lanka, sources claimed.
These Rajapaksa family members have arrived at the Mattala Airport in two Bell helicopters and are prepared to leave the island in a private jet.
Early reports claimed that Basil Rajapaksa could not leave the island through the Katunayake Bandaranaike International Airport.
Some of the properties at Temple Trees were stolen after it fell into the hands of the protesters, the Prime Minister’s Media Unit alleged. In a complaint lodged with the Kollupitiya Police station, the PM’s Media Unit alleged that two laptop computers, a video camera and several other camera equipment are missing.
Following the historic taking over of Temple Trees three days ago, its daily operations came to a standstill, but a part of the Prime Minister’s Media Unit is still functioning.
Meanwhile, certain damages were caused to walls of some buildings like holes dug in between and a large number of documents were destroyed, the Unit added.
The consignment of fertiliser received from India has passed trial and can be used for local agriculture, the National Fertiliser Secretariat told the Agriculture Ministry.
These fertiliser stocks were subjugated to a series of trials in a laboratory in Sri Lanka and a standard report was obtained regarding the percentage of biuret that should be contained in fertiliser. Accordingly, it was confirmed that the biuret percentage is 0.9 per cent.
Conclusively, the National Fertiliser Secretariat has informed the Ministry that the new stock can be used for agriculture with no problem.
An early stock of fertiliser received to Sri Lanka revealed its biuret percentage to be 0.65 per cent as confirmed by three international reports.
The stock will be distributed through the Secretariat for crops including paddy and corn.
