Guwahati: Voting to choose a new president is currently taking place in Sri Lanka following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The top three candidates for the presidential election, in which 225 members of the House are entitled to vote and take part in the secret ballot, include the acting president of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The other two contenders are Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the National People’s Power (NPP), and SLPP legislator Dullas Alahaperuma. Main opposition leader of Sri Lanka Sajith Premadasa withdrew his candidature yesterday saying that he is supporting rival candidate Dullas Alahapperuma for the top post.
Premadasa announced on Twitter that Alahapperuma, an MP for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), who is running for president will receive support from his party the Samagi Jana Balawegaya its coalition and its opposition partners.
Premadasa said that he is heading with this decision as he seeks the “greater good” for Lankans. “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. Samagi Jana Balawegaya and our alliance and our opposition partners will work hard towards making Dullas Alahaperuma victorious,” he tweeted.
As per local media, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Dullas Alahaperuma are two of the front-runners. In an effort to convince the Tamil MPs to support Dullas, Alahapperuma was actively campaigning for the presidential election alongside his prime ministerial candidate Sajith Premadasa, the Daily Mirror reported.
The former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa presented his resignation before leaving the country for Singapore. The president first took a flight to the Maldives after tens of thousands of protesters stormed his official house in the nation’s capital Colombo.