Who is the new Sri Lanka’s President who has been sworn in office? This question is what we seek to answer in this article. We will also delve deeper to see if he will be able to overcome the never ending Sri Lanka’s problems.
The new Sri Lanka’s president who has been sworn in.
Poverty stricken Sri Lanka has sworn in a new president in the person of Ranil Wickremesinghe.
has been sworn in as president, amid hopes that he will pull the country out of its economic suffering.
He is 73-year-old and he took his oath at the tightly-guarded parliament complex on Thursday.
but who is Ranil Wickremesinghe
Ranil Wickremesinghe is a Sri Lankan politician, who is the current and the 9th president of Sri Lanka since 21 July 2022.
He was born on 24th March 1949 to Esmond Wickremesighe and Nalini Wickremesinghe.
He was the former Minister of Finance of Sri Lanka and was also a member of parliament from the popular United National Party (UNP).
Ranil Wickremesinghe has been the leader of the UNP since 1994 and served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka in six separate stints. It spans from 1993 to 1994, 2001 to 2004, 2015 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and in 2022.
Mr Ranil also served as Leader of the opposition from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015.
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His life can be said to be rosy as he was born to rich family with political roots. He graduated from University of Ceylon. He qualified as an advocate and entered politics during the 1970’s with the UNP and got elected as a member of parliament in the Bivagama electorate in the 1977 parliamentary elections.
His political career got even richer when he was appointed as a Deputy Minister of the Foreign Affairs. This was under President J.R Jayewardene who happened to be his uncle. Mr. Rani Wickremesinhe became a substantive Minister of Youth Affairs and employment. This made him the youngest cabinet Minster in Sri Lanka.
Mr Wickremesinghe got the chance to succeed D.B. Wijetunga as Prime Minister in 1993. This follows the assassination of Premadasa and Wijetunga’s succession to the presidency.
Wickremesinghe became the UNP nominee during the 1999 and 2005 presidential elections. He could not succeed as he was defeated by Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The new Sri Lanka’s president who has been sworn in is not popular with most protesters
Mr Wickremesinghe who was a former Prime Minister is not that popular, but most protesters have said they will give him a chance. It is not clear if this will put to end, the mass unrest which have rocked the country over economic challenges.
“He is here – and we will see what his actions are. If we don’t get any food, any medicine, we’ll be on the streets,” one woman who had joined protests last week told the BBC.
Many Sri Lanka’s blame the Rajapaksa administration for mishandling the nation’s finances. They equally see Mr Wickremesinghe as part of the problem and a few demonstraters were on the streets the day after Mr Wickremesinghe won the parliament vote.