Protestors vow to oust Wickremesinghe too
Protestors in Sri Lanka who had been demanding to free the country from the Rajapaksas, now vow to continue their struggle till they oust Ranil Wickremesinghe from power.
Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday won the Sri Lankan presidential election with a margin 49 votes against Dullas Alapahpperuna and Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
“Wickremesinghe is the employee of the Rajapaksas. If this government thinks that we can be silenced by bullets or tear gas they are mistaken. We will leave no stone unturned until we send Wickremesinghe home. He is not a president elected by the people. We sent one president home. We will send him home. Wait and see what will happen in the next fortnight,” said Wasantha Mudalige, student convener of the Inter University Student Union of Sri Lanka (IUSUSL), at a media briefing Thursday.
Wickremesinghe’s personal house and library was burnt last week for which the protestors took no responsibility claiming Wickremesinghe had staged the fire.
The IUSUSL is linked to the Frontline Socialist Party of Sri Lanka (FSPSL), a breakaway faction of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramune (JVP), which today follows democratic politics but has a history of two bloody insurgencies in 1971 and 1989. Although the JVP is currently seen merely as theoreticians of Marxism and not rebels, Kumar Gunaratnam of mixed Tamil and Sinhala blood, is known to be identified with militancy-based Marxism.
In a recent interview with television journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrama he insisted that he will not give up the struggle of the people to clear Sri Lankan politics of the Rajapaksas and corruption. The FSP claim to represent the people although much of the protests were organised by diverse people oriented groups including those connected with Western countries.
“There are around 31 groups involved in the public protests. I do not think any one faction can claim ownership of it,” a former military official, who had consistently opposed the Rajapaksas and is now involved in the protest, said.
"Once again the ninth parliament showed its unwillingness to stand with the people of the country. No option now but to demand the dissolution of parliament,” Harini Amarasuriya, a parliamentarian of the JVP said on twitter.
The JVP received 3 votes as opposed to Wickremesinghe who got 134 of the 219 valid votes, Alahapperuma got 82 and Dissanayake got three in the voting of parliamentarians by secret ballot. Two parliamentarians abstained from voting.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which had pledged support for SLPP's Dallas Allahaperuma who gave up his minister post at the beginning of the peoples' protest and stood for post of presidency on Wednesday, stated their disappointment.
“The parliament has shown that it is in the clutches of the Podujana Party that had lost its mandate. I repeat that the parliament has to be dissolved. Anura Dissanayake made a good point: the number of those that publicly endorsed Dullas is more than 113! What happened???” asked TNA spokesperson Sumanthiran on Twitter, insinuating politicians being bought out.
The post of president fell vacant after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced out by mobs who demanded his resignation which he delivered via email on 14 July after fleeing Sri Lanka to Singapore. Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed PM by Gotabaya Rajapaksa after the then PM Mahinda Rajapaksa was forced out of office by mobs on 6 May.
Wickremesinghe’s appointment as PM by Gotabaya although considered ironic was initially seen as justified by some on the general assumption that he could woo international support for an IMF bailout but observers say that Wickremesinghe no longer has international support. Wickremesinghe expects to be president of Sri Lanka till the next Presidential election due in November 2024.
According to Sri Lanka’s constitution, the PM becomes interim president in the event of the resignation of a president and following constitutional norms, he was elected by the House on Wednesday.
Protestors see his election as a direct slap in the face of democracy as he could not even secure a parliamentary seat in public vote at the last elections.
The protestors vow to get rid of him in a matter of days. Emergency has been imposed in the country in a bid to quell public uprising. The long queues at petrol stations and food shortage continue with Sri Lanka recording its 18th fuel queue death as a school principal died in his vehicle of heart failure. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a previous statement called Sri Lanka to put its political crisis in order to consider resuming discussions with the beleaguered island nation.