Wickremesinghe, the 73-year-old United National Party (UNP) leader, was appointed as Sri Lanka’s 26th prime minister on Thursday as the country was without a government since Monday when prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after violence erupted following an attack on the anti-government protesters by his supporters.
The SLFP chairman and former President Sirisena has written a letter to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, saying that his party will support the formation of his government.
Wickremesinghe has also invited the leaders of the 10 parties that quit the previous government to discuss the current political situation and said he will make an appointment after meeting them.
Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) has extended their support to Wickremesinghe and almost all parties represented in the 225-member Parliament have said although they wouldn’t be a party to Wickremesinghe’s government they would support him in his effort to pull Sri Lanka out of the current economic crisis.
In an unusual move, Wickremesinghe extended public support to the protesters, who have been camping at a popular beachfront in Colombo for over a month calling for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation for mishandling the country’s worst economic crisis.
