Ranil Wickremesinghe elected as new President of Sri Lanka

Colombo, July 20: Ranil Wickremesinghe, the acting president and prime minister become the new president of Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

He defeated Dullas Alahapperuma, a former journalist and SLPP rebel who is supported by the opposition and Anura Dissanayake, the head of the communist People’s Liberation Front (JVP), whose coalition holds three parliamentary seats.

Notably Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former president of Sri Lanka, left the nation last week.

Thousands of protestors attacked his presidential mansions and other government facilities, demanding his resignation. He fled to the Maldives and subsequently Singapore.

They had also demanded the resignation of  Wickremesinghe, who had been named prime minister in May. In protests against his leadership, demonstrators torched his personal residence and attacked his prime ministerial office in Colombo.