Ranil elected as new SL president

Veteran politician Ranil Wickremesinghe was on Wednesday elected as Sri Lanka’s President by lawmakers, in a rare move that could provide continuity for crucial discussions with the IMF for a bailout deal for the cash-strapped nation but a development that has angered anti-government protesters who renewed their demand for his resignation.
The 73-year-old Acting President and six-time former prime minister won a parliamentary ballot after his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country amid escalating protests against his government over an unprecedented economic crisis marked by acute shortages of essentials like fuel, medicine and food.
Ranil secured 134 votes in the 225-member House. His comfortable victory with the backing of Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party also showed that Rajapaksa family’s firm grip on political power despite the resignations of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa in recent weeks.