Guwahati: Dinesh Gunawardena took his oath of office as prime minister of Sri Lanka on Friday.
The 73-year-old member of parliament from Sri Lanka’s Podujana Peramuna party has been chosen to serve as the island country’s 15th prime minister.
Following lengthy deliberations within the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party on Thursday, Gunawardena was sworn in by President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Prime Minister’s Office on Flower Road in Colombo today, according to Daily Mirror.
Then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had appointed Gunawardena to the position of Home Minister in April. The previous prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the eighth President of Sri Lanka on July 21 after Gotabaya left the nation and resigned from his position.
According to reports cited by the media, the ministers who served in the last cabinet under Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe would be sworn in on Friday.
However, the sources claimed that once Parliament meets on July 27, discussions on a national government will begin. This is in an effort to revive the delayed process.
The sources claimed that the cabinet will be reorganised and new cabinet ministers will take oaths when political parties agree to create a national administration.
“The ministries have recently ceased operations, and there are numerous files that need to be handed to cabinet at this time. Consequently, the former administration will take an oath today and resume its duties “senior sources told the media portal that.
In the meantime, several protesters clashed with armed security guards as they erected barricades outside the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat’s Colombo offices early on Friday.
The armed soldiers were stationed outside the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat in an effort to disperse protesters who were demonstrating against the country’s newly elected president, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Security officers allegedly searched the capital’s anti-government protest camp, according to the protesters.
Armed security forces are tearing down protestor tents in front of the Sri Lankan Presidential Secretariat.
“We are once again being attacked by Ranil Wickremesinghe, who wants to destroy us, but we will never give up. We want to rid our nation of such divisive politics, “said a protester in the midst of a military onslaught.
On Thursday, Wickremesinghe took the oath of office as president of Sri Lanka in front of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. In a vote held in Parliament on Wednesday, he was chosen to serve as president.
Following the departure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president last week amid significant economic crisis in the nation, Wickremesinghe received 134 votes during the voting on Wednesday.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former president of Sri Lanka, fled the island nation to the Maldives before taking a flight to Singapore last week after his official mansion in Colombo was assaulted by tens of thousands of enraged demonstrators. When Rajapaksa left the country, he offered to resign.
Due to a scarcity of essential manufacturing inputs, a currency depreciation of 80% since March 2022, a lack of foreign reserves, and the country’s failure to pay its international debt commitments, Sri Lanka’s economy is preparing for a rapid contraction.
The people of Sri Lanka, who are currently experiencing great economic hardship, are still unsure about the country’s future as it struggles to get back on track following the election of a new President.