Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka’s six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in Thursday as president of the crisis-hit South Asian nation, as officials said he was looking to form a unity government to manage the turmoil.
The veteran politician who was elected by legislators on Wednesday, took his oath of office before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Parliament amidst tight security.
Sri Lanka’s police chief and top military brass stood behind the new president as the oath was administered in the presence of parliamentary speaker Mahinda Abeywardana.
The swearing in which was supposed to be a live coverage was aired off just before the swearing-in got under way. Officials said an investigation into the unexpected breakdown had been launched.
According to officials, Ranil was expected to shortly form a cabinet not exceeding 30 ministers to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence from Britain.
Sri Lanka faced huge crises suffering lengthy power blackouts and the country’s 22 million have been enduring shortages of fuel, food and medicines for months.
Public anger over the hardships boiled over when tens of thousands of protesters stormed the home of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, forcing him to step down.