We are the real power: protester

Demonstrators distribute auspicious milk rice as part of the celebration after the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo on Friday. Pics/AFP

The speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament formally accepted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation on Friday after he fled to Singapore to escape a popular uprising brought about by his country's worst economic crisis in seven decades.

After suffering from crippling shortages of petrol and diesel and runaway prices of basic items like vegetables and bread for months, Sri Lankans are now waiting for lawmakers to elect a new president on Wednesday.

Until then, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be the interim president although protesters want him gone too.

"From this point, we will move to constitutionally appoint a new president," the speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, told reporters after receiving Rajapaksa's resignation letter the previous night. "It will happen quickly and successfully. I request everyone to support this process."

Rajapaksa landed in Singapore on Thursday, having fled to the Maldives early on Wednesday on a military jet along with his wife and two security guards.

"We are so happy today that he resigned and we feel that when we, the people, come together, we can do everything," said Arunanandan, 34, a school teacher who had been camping at the main protest site opposite the presidential secretariat for the past three months. "We are the real power in this country."

Speaker Abeywardena said he hoped to complete the process of selecting a new president in seven days and that parliament will reconvene on Saturday, when lawmakers would be formally told about the vacancy at the top. Parliament will vote for a new president on July 20.

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