Sri Lanka Parliament to elect new president in July 22: Speaker

The resignation of Sri Lanka's president has been accepted by parliamentary speaker announced Friday.

The Speaker said that the Parliament will meet on Saturday and the new President will be elected within seven days as per provisions of the Constitution. The newly-elected president is likely to appoint a new prime minister, who would then have to be approved by Parliament. 

Protesters who had stormed government buildings, including the President’s residence and PM’s office, in the past week, vacated them on Thursday, saying they did not want to damage public property. Following this, Sri Lankan military troops moved in to reinforce security. 

After days of uncertainty, Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday night emailed the resignation that demonstrators have sought for months. Gotabaya, who is currently in Singapore, fled Sri Lanka with his wife and stayed in Male, Maldives for a day before he travelled to Singapore. 

In recent days, protesters have occupied several government buildings demanding their top leaders to step down. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, his wife and two bodyguards left aboard a Sri Lankan Air Force plane bound for the city of  Male, the capital of the Maldives.

The United States on July 7 announced that it will provide $6 million in emergency assistance to Sri Lanka to address the needs of the marginalized and vulnerable communities impacted by the country's economic crisis.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain 1948. The economic crisis has prompted an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and other fuel, toilet paper and many more.