Ranil Wickremesinghe elected as Sri Lanka's new President

Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be the country's next president until 2024, a parliament vote count showed on Wednesday.

Sri Lankan lawmakers finished voting in parliament on Wednesday to choose the next president from among three contenders, hoping the new leader would pull the island out of a crippling economic and political crisis.

The 73-year-old six-time prime minister secured 134 votes in the 225-member House while his nearest rival and dissident ruling party leader Dullas Alahapperuma got 82. Leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake secured just three votes.


The new President will have a mandate to serve out the rest of Rajapaksa's term, which ends in November 2024.

Earlier, the voting by secret ballot took place amidst tight security in the wake of the simmering tensions in the island nation triggered by the unprecedented economic and political crisis. In the crucial election, 223 lawmakers voted while two MPs abstained. Four votes were rejected while 219 were declared valid.

This is for the first time in 44 years that Sri Lanka's Parliament will directly elect a president. Presidential elections in 1982, 1988, 1994, 1999, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2019 had elected them by popular vote.

The only previous occasion when the presidency became vacant mid-term was in 1993 when president Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated. DB Wijetunga was unanimously endorsed by Parliament to run the balance of Premadasa's term.

(With inputs from agencies)