Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially resigns as President of Sri Lanka

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has officially resigned as the President of Sri Lanka, Speaker of Parliament announced this morning (July 15).

Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will continue as the acting President in executing duties and functions of the President as constitutionally stipulated till the electing a new President by Parliament, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena said.

Speaker Abeywardena stated that accordingly No.2 of 1981 of the Constitution and the 40th Article of the Constitution steps will be taken to appoint a President.

Speaker’s formal announcement is as follows

Under section 38.1 (b) of the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka I have received the resignation letter of His Excellency the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa . Accordingly,  effective from 14 July 2022 , from this point forth the President has legally resigned from his legal duties and responsibilities. Under these circumstances, the constitutional procedure of appointing a new President will now be activated. Until this constitutional procedure is over, according to the constitution the Prime Minister will function in the capacity of the President overseeing functions, duties, and powers of the office of the President.

As informed by me at the Party Leaders meeting convened on the subject of selecting the President, the President will be selected according to the provisions of the Special Provisions Act No. 2 of 1981 and the Article 40 of the Constitution. It is my intention to complete this procedure successfully and speedily. As the oldest democracy in the South Asian region holding Democratic traditions sacred, completing this process in a transparent and Democratic manner would be a milestone not only in the history of Sri Lanka, but also of the Democratic history of the world.

Therefore, I would like to request maximum cooperation for this Democratic process from all party leaders, state officials, and security forces. My special appeal to our respected and dear citizens of Sri Lanka is to create a peaceful environment that will allow all members of Parliament to attend Parliament freely and act according to their conscience. Under such an environment, with the help of all responsible, I intend to conclude the above process within a short period of seven days. Accordingly, the notice is hereby given that the Parliament will convene on the 16th of this month (16.07.2022) and all members are requested to attend on that day.

I thank you all for the extended support.

Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena
Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka

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