Sri Lanka’s parliament on Wednesday elected interim President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the next president of the troubled country. He won 134 out of a total of 219 votes that were found valid. Other candidates in the fray were ruling party legislator Dallas Alhapparuma and leader of the leftist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna Party Anura Kumara Disnayaka.
Of the total 225 members of parliament, 223 MPs voted, from which four votes were found invalid. Of the 219 votes that were counted, here’s the vote share for the top three contenders.
Ranil Wickremesinghe: 134 votes
Dullas Alahapperuma: 82 votes
Anura Kumara Dissanayake: 3 votes
Wickremesinghe was supported by a section of the ruling party with 145 seats as of the last parliamentary election in 2020. Alhapparuma is backed by another team as well as the main opposition party, which won 54 seats in the previous round, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay said that India would help Sri Lanka to make an “early and effective” economic recovery. To that effect, India, which has helped Sri Lanka with almost $4 billion in aid, would, “going forward,” like to bring in “more investment” to help the country build capacities to respond to the economic challenges, Baglay said.