Sri Lanka PM appointed as acting President: Speaker
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed acting President because President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is abroad, Parliamentary speaker Mahinda Abeywardene said.
“I was informed that Under the 37-1 article of the constitution, because President Gotabya Rajapaksa is abroad, to cover the functions of the office, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been appointed,” Speaker Abeywardene said in a video statement.
President Rajapaksa fled the country early in the morning to Maldives.
Police have teargassed protestors around the Prime Ministers office and also fired into the air.
Curfew had been declared in the Western province of Sri Lanka and emergency around the island, the PMs office said.