Ranil Wickremesinghe won the presidential election held by secret ballot on Tuesday, July 20, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa stepped down from his position earlier this month. Wickremesinghe is to remain president for the rest of Rajapaksa’s term which is to end in 2024

The resignation comes after Rajapaksa, who came to power with an unprecedented 6.9 million votes, fled the country on July 13 following massive protests

Ahilan Kadirgamar, senior lecturer at the University of Jaffna, analyzes the recent political developments in Sri Lanka after the fall of the powerful Mahinda Rajapaksa

Wickremesinghe, who is the leader of the United National Party (UNP), has already served four terms as prime minister earlier. He was appointed by incumbent President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on May 12 after days of hectic political drama and deadly clashes that hit the streets with the President’s brother and former PM stepping down earlier this week

The PM resigned shortly after his supporters attacked anti-government protesters in Colombo, leading to over 150 injuries. Later in the day, violence broke out in many parts of the country