Sri Lanka parliament speaker accepts Rajapaksa's resignation

Sri Lanka parliament speaker accepts Rajapaksa's resignation
People dance as they celebrate the resignation of Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at a protest site, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. July 14, 2022.
PHOTO: Reuters

COLOMBO — The speaker of parliament in crisis-hit Sri Lanka has accepted a resignation letter from President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, having verified its authenticity after it was flown from Singapore late on Thursday (July 14), he told reporters.

"From this point, we will move to constitutionally appoint a new president," the speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, said on Friday.

Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore following a stopover in the Maldives, after he fled Sri Lanka amid a wave of unrest as his island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in decades.

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