Sri Lanka gets a new President: Ranil Wickremesinghe wins with 134 votes

COLOMBO (News 1st); Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected as the new President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka following a vote in Parliament.

He received votes 134 votes. 

Dullas Alahapperuma: 82 Anura Kumara: 3

Ranil Wickremesinghe entered Parliament from the United National Party National List following the Parliamentary Elections in August 2020.

223 Members of Parliament cast their votes. 2 MPs abstained from voting. Four votes were considered as invalid and the number of valid votes were 219. 

This was the first time in the history of Sri Lanka that a vote took place in Parliament to elect a succeeding President, following the post being left vacant by Gotabaya Rajapaksa who resigned on the 14th of July 2022.

Although there was one previous experience of electing a president by parliament in Sri Lanka, this time is special.

In 1993, given the demise of the former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunga was elected for the remainder of the term of President unanimously, without a poll as the succeeding President.

But this time, as several candidates had come forward a poll was held. Accordingly, it will be marked as a new experience in the parliamentary history of this country.

The names of three Members of Parliament were proposed and seconded in the Parliament yesterday (19) for the vacancy of the Presidency, with the resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Accordingly, the names of Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Member of Parliament Dullas Alahapperuma and Member of Parliament Anura Kumara Dissanayake were proposed.