Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns and goes shopping with wife Ioma in Singapore
Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was clicked shopping at Changi airport in Singapore hours after fleeing his country. Yes, you read that right. A passenger got the photo of the day: the Rajapaksas shopping, perhaps for the long haul ahead, given that they are yet to be granted asylum by any country.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled his country besieged by economic crisis and revolt, finally resigned on July 14, 2022, after landing in Singapore. Protesters had demanded his resignation for weeks for mismanaging the economy. Following his resignation, people celebrated on the streets of Colombo and even burst crackers. A formal announcement of the same is expected today, July 15, 2022.
Sri Lanka's Parliament Speaker has confirmed his resignation. Gotabaya Rajapaksa reportedly sent the resignation to the Speaker via email.
Why did he not resign on July 13, 2022? Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had confirmed that Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be resigning and had stated July 13 as the date. However, Rajapaksa did not resign on that day. It is believed that he waited to get out of Sri Lanka and to a safe place before resigning.
As a President, Rajapaksa enjoyed immunity from arrest in the island nation which also allowed him to take a Sri Lanka Air Force jet to get out of the country. He might have waited to reach a safe country to ensure he is not arrested or detained, or worse.
What happened? Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka as hundreds and thousands of angry people stormed his official residence and other government buildings over the economic crisis. First, Rajapaksa escaped briefly to the Maldives and then reportedly boarded a Saudia Airlines flight to Singapore.
However, Rajapaksa and his wife Ioma are not to stay for long in Singapore. The Singapore Foreign Ministry also confirmed that he has not been granted any asylum. It is believed that he and his wife will fly to either Saudi Arabia or the UAE where they will seek asylum.
Twitterati pointed out the irony in reports that stated that Gotabaya Rajapaksa may seek asylum in Saudi Arabia or UAE, both Muslim countries, while his entire political career was marred by an Islamophobic attitude.
What next? The resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa means a lot of things:
- Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is now the legitimised acting President of Sri Lanka.
- Fresh elections can be held in the parliament to elect a new President.
- There is still time for 30 days before the Parliament would be lawfully forced to elect a President if MPs do not endorse Wickremesinghe to the position. However, reports earlier had stated that voting can begin as soon as next week.
- Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa are said to be the frontrunners for the Presidential elections. Reports say that PM Wickremesinghe has majority support from the MPs and is also known for his close ties with the Rajapaksas. But protesters had also demanded his resignation.
Meanwhile, the crowds of protesters are smaller given the curfew and emergency imposed by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, after he became the acting President. Whether the new government will be able to solve Lanka's economic crisis or not needs to be seen.