Sri Lanka's prime minister and acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, will face two rivals in a parliamentary vote Wednesday on who will succeed the ousted leader who fled the country last week amid huge protests triggered by its economic collapse.
's prime minister and acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, will face two rivals in a parliamentary vote Wednesday on who will succeed the ousted leader who fled the country last week amid huge protests triggered by its economic collapse.
“For the greater good of my country that I love and the people I cherish I hereby withdraw my candidacy for the position of president,” Premadasa said in a Twitter post. Opponents of Wickremesinghe's candidacy fear he represents an extension of the Rajapaksa rule and a potential comeback for the beleaguered political family.
Wickremesinghe also took on the role of finance minister, becoming the public face of the country's economic woes. He has delivered weekly addresses in Parliament, raised taxes and pledged to overhaul a government that increasingly has concentrated power under the presidency. Ultimately, observers say, he has lacked the political heft and public support to get the job done.
A son of school administrators, he studied political science at the University of Iowa but did not earn a degree. He is married to a popular singer, Pradeepa Dharmadasa.
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