Sri Lanka parliament to replace ousted president in crucial vote

TRT World says SRI LANKA’S parliament will be voting for a president to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled abroad last week after his palace was stormed by angry protesters now bracing for a crackdown from his likely successor.

The winner of the three-way contest to succeed him will take charge of a bankrupt nation that is in bailout talks with the IMF, with its 22 million people enduring severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

Analysts say the frontrunner is Ranil Wickremesinghe, a six-time former prime minister who became acting president after his predecessor resigned, but is despised by the protesters who see him as a Rajapaksa ally.

Rajapaksa’s departure wounds a once-powerful ruling clan that has dominated Sri Lankan politics for most of the past two decades after his brothers also quit their posts as premier and finance minister earlier this year.

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https://www.trtworld.com/asia/sri-lanka-parliament-to-replace-ousted-president-in-crucial-vote-58985