Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stepped down, and his official resignation letter has been received, Sri Lankan parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena told reporters in Colombo on Friday, TASS reports.
"Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stepped down legally from his post from the 14th of July 2022," the Newsfist portal quoted him as saying. The speaker demonstrated the resignation letter, delivered to him from Singapore late on Thursday, via the embassy of Sri Lanka.
According to the speaker, the constitutional process of electing a new president will begin from this moment. During the transition period, the presidential duties will be performed by the prime minister, in accordance with the constitution.
The country’s parliament will convene on Saturday to discuss political settlement in the country.
The president tendered his resignation letter via email after arriving in Singapore from the Maldives. Rajapaksa fled his country and flew to the Maldives on Tuesday night after mass protests demanding his resignation broke out last Saturday. On Thursday, Rajapaksa departed to Singapore.
On July 9, protesters in Colombo captured the residences of the president and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. A total of 103 people were injured during the riots.
