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Sri Lanka Continues Demands for President Rajapaksa's Resignation
Posted
April 9, 2022
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1:06Now PlayingSri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is under pressure to step down as citizens hit the streets to demand accountability for decisions that have led to Asia’s fastest inflation, widespread power outages and shortages of food and fuel.
His party’s once-formidable majority in parliament -- helmed by his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa -- has been whittled away after dozens of lawmakers exited the coalition. The opposition now wants the executive presidency abolished and the remaining Rajapaksa family members to leave the government.
So far Gotabaya Rajapaksa has stood firm, saying he won’t resign under any circumstances. Still, the political turmoil risks makes it tougher to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund and creditors to find a way to repay $8.6 billion of debt due this year while also providing essential goods in the nation of 22 million people.
Technically, the Rajapaksas don’t need to go anywhere. The next presidential election isn’t until November 2023, while parliamentary polls don’t need to take place before August 2025.
But protests and more defections in parliament could add pressure on both of them to leave office.
“What happens will boil down to the politics, rather than the law,” said Asanga Welikala, acting director of the Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law. “As the protests are continuing undiminished, the pressure on the president to resign will increase.”
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