By KRISHAN FRANCIS
Associated Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka is in a political vacuum for a second day Monday with opposition leaders yet to agree on who should replace its roundly rejected leaders, whose residences are occupied by protesters, angry over the country’s economic woes.
Protesters remained in President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence, his seaside office and the prime minister’s official home, which they took possession of on Saturday demanding the two leaders to step down. It was the biggest and most eventful day of protests over the past three months surrounding the administrative district in capital, Colombo.
They remained there Monday saying they would stay until the resignations are official.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Saturday he would leave office once a new government is in place, and hours later the speaker of Parliament said Rajapaksa would step down Wednesday.
The president’s whereabouts were unknown, though a statement from his office said Sunday that he ordered the immediate distribution of a cooking gas consignment to the public, suggesting that he was still at work. Pressure on both men had grown as the economic meltdown set off acute shortages of essential items, leaving people struggling to obtain food, fuel and other necessities.
Opposition party leaders have been in discussion to form an alternative all-party government, an urgent requirement of bankrupt nation to continue discussions with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout program.
Lawmaker Udaya Gammanpila said the main opposition United People’s Front and lawmakers who have defected Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition have had discussions and agreed to work together. Main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Dullas Alahapperuma, who was a minister under Rajapaksa, have been proposed for president and prime minister and they have been requested to decide on how to share the positions before a meeting with the Parliament speaker later Monday.
“We can’t be in an anarchical condition. We have to somehow reach a consensus today,” Gammanpila said.
Sri Lanka is relying on aid from India and other nations as leaders try to negotiate a bailout with the IMF. Wickremesinghe said recently that negotiations with the IMF were complex because Sri Lanka was now a bankrupt state.
Sri Lanka announced in April that it was suspending repayment of foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion, of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.
Months of demonstrations have all but dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty, which has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades but is accused by protesters of mismanagement and corruption.
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