Colombo: Sri Lanka’s parliament on Friday accepted the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, officially ending the rule of the country’s most powerful political dynasty, which had held power for nearly two decades.
Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday to escape a popular revolt over his family’s role in the country’s worst economic downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
For months the island nation of 22 million people has been battling daily power cuts and shortages of basic items such as fuel, food and medicines, as foreign exchange reserves have been depleted, leaving Sri Lanka unable to pay for imports.
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The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party, which has a majority in parliament and is led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, has already announced its support for Ranil Wickremesinghe to become the country’s leader in the parliamentary elections.
Protests intensified in Colombo in March and have since spread across the country.
They culminated last week, when thousands of protesters stormed parliament and government buildings. Protesters continued to occupy the buildings until Thursday afternoon.
Rajapaksa submitted his resignation as soon as he left for Singapore from the Maldives.
His formal announcement to step down was made in a televised address by Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abhayawardene on Friday morning.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was sworn in as interim president, said lawmakers would choose the country’s new leader and amend the constitution to curtail the president’s powers.
“Measures are being taken for a new president, who will be elected to introduce the 19th Amendment in Parliament next week,” Wickremesinghe said.
An amendment that strengthened parliament in 2015 was repealed when Rajapaksa became president in 2019.
Rajapaksa’s fall as president marks the formal ouster of his family from the government.
The political dynasty began with the former president’s elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was the president in 2005–15. During his presidential term, he was credited with ending the country’s 30-year-long civil war with the rebels known as the Tamil Tigers in 2009.
Mahinda’s three brothers were still involved in politics at the time: Gotabaya headed the Ministry of Defence, Chamal – the eldest of the Rajapaksa siblings – was the Speaker of Parliament, and the youngest, Tulsi, was a cabinet minister.
After Mahinda’s presidential term ended, he remained out of the top leadership for three years until he became prime minister in 2018.
When Gotabaya won the presidency in 2019, the family’s grip on power tightened: Chamal Rajapaksa was soon named Minister of Irrigation and Home Affairs and National Security and Disaster Management, while Tulsi was appointed Minister of Finance . Mahinda’s son Namal Rajapaksa became the Minister of Youth and Sports.
While all of them have resigned over the past few months as protests – called “aragalayas” (struggles) – swept the country, opinion is divided about whether the Rajapaksa era would end with the expulsion of the president. It is done.
The Supreme Court lawyer and former diplomat said, “The ‘Aragalaya’ of hungry angry youth of Sri Lanka has successfully overthrown the rule of the Rajapaksa family in such a way that none of them will hold any political role in the country for decades to come.” Wouldn’t dare to return.” MM Zuhair told Arab News.
He said those leading the popular revolt must now prevent the re-emergence of the junior Rajapaksa to power.
But according to Dr. Dayan Jayatilke, Sri Lanka’s former envoy to the United Nations in Geneva, the family’s hold can be restored through its ally, the current interim president.
The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party, which has a majority in parliament and is led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, has already declared its support for Wickremesinghe to become the country’s leader in the parliamentary elections.
“If Ranil comes back as president, of course, Rajapaksa’s influence will be in full force,” Jayatilke said.
Wickremesinghe’s Scenario Protesters say they will try to stop it too.
Senaka Perera, a prominent lawyer representing the protesters, said they also want to oust Wickremesinghe.
“The goal has not yet been achieved,” he told Arab News.
Wickremesinghe “is a puppet of Rajapaksa, his presence in the government is as good as that of Rajapaksa.”
Parliament is expected to be convened on Saturday to begin the process of electing the country’s new leader, who will serve until the end of Rajapaksa’s term in 2024.