The Speaker of Sri Lanka’s Parliament on Friday accepted the resignation of President Gotabai Rajapaksa after he fled abroad after protesters broke into his residence last week, ending the occupation of public buildings in the capital.
“Gothabaya has legally resigned,” Mahinda Yapa Abivardana told reporters a day after the resignation was emailed. “I accepted the resignation,” he added.
On Saturday, the president left his residence, which was attacked by demonstrators accusing him of mismanagement, at a time when the country is going through the worst economic crisis in its history. He was able to travel to the Maldives on Wednesday and then boarded a Saudi Airlines flight to Singapore on Thursday. From there, he sent the text of his resignation letter.
Rajapaksa became the first president to step down since Sri Lanka adopted a presidential system in 1978.
In Colombo, despite the curfew, a small crowd celebrated the resignation, some carrying the country’s flags, while others gleefully danced and sang in front of the President’s Secretariat when the news was announced.
“This is a huge victory,” Harinda Fonseca said on the sidelines of her participation in the rally, “but this is only the first step.”
According to Sri Lanka’s constitution, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also demanded by the protesters, will automatically become acting president, so the parliament can elect a deputy to the presidency for the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term.
Eyewitnesses said they saw dozens of people leaving the prime minister’s office on Thursday as police entered them. And in some quarters armored personnel carriers patrolled.
“We will immediately withdraw peacefully from the presidential palace, the presidential secretariat and the prime minister’s office, but we will continue our fight,” a spokeswoman for the protesters said shortly before.
Hours earlier, police had clashed with protesters trying to enter parliament.
On Wednesday, protesters broke into the prime minister’s residence after storming the presidential palace on Saturday.
During the clashes, about 85 people were injured, one person suffocated with tear gas.
Hundreds of thousands have visited the presidential palace since it was opened to the public after the president’s defection on Saturday. But on Thursday afternoon, the doors of the building were closed and guarded by armed men.
Bullying and insults. On Thursday, the army and police received new orders to apply strict reprisals against any acts of violence and warned rioters that their members are “legally authorized to exercise their power.”
After a day’s stopover in the Maldives, Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore on Thursday with his wife Ayuma and two bodyguards on a Saudi Arabian Airlines commercial flight, who were escorted to her place minutes before takeoff.
He asked to board a private jet, according to Maldivian media reports, refusing to take a commercial flight with other passengers due to the hostile reception he received upon his arrival in the Maldives on Wednesday.
He was also taunted and insulted as he left Velana Airport and a protest was held in the capital Male, demanding that the Maldivian government not allow him to pass safely.
And the media in the Maldives confirmed that the President of Sri Lanka spent the night at the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Itafushi hotel.
By law, Rajapaksa cannot be arrested while he is still president, which may explain his desire to travel abroad before submitting his resignation to avoid possible arrest.
Former Maldives President Muhammad Nasheed, who played a role in Rajapaksa’s escape, said he feared he would be killed if he stayed in Sri Lanka.
According to diplomatic sources, the United States denied him a visa because he renounced his US citizenship in 2019 before running for President of Sri Lanka.
Singapore will not be the last destination. The city-state announced that Rajapaksa was on a private visit and “had not asked for asylum.”
According to Sri Lankan security sources, the president intends to stay in Singapore for a while before heading to the United Arab Emirates.
“He destroyed our country along with the Rajapaksa family, so we don’t trust him at all. We need a new government,” said Jehan Martin, a 49-year-old merchant.