Wickramasinghe received 134 votes in favour while his top rival got 82 votes
Acting President Ranil Shriyan Wickremesinghe handsomely won the secret ballot held today in Parliament for the vacant presidency after the resignation of Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Mr. Wickramasinghe received 134 votes in favour while his top rival got 82 votes. There was an invalid vote and two abstained from voting while four votes were rejected. The third candidate in the race who is the leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramunsa received 3 votes. Accordingly, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe will have the constitutional power to hold the executive presidency of the country until 2024.
Born to a political family, Mr Wickremesinghe graduated from University of Ceylon and qualified as an advocate from the Ceylon Law College in 1972. Entering active politics in the mid-1970s with the UNP, he was first elected to Parliament from the Biyagama electorate in the 1977 parliamentary elections and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, by his uncle and President J. R. Jayewardene. He was thereafter appointed as the Minister of Youth Affairs and Employment, becoming the youngest cabinet minister in Sri Lanka.
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| President Ranil Wickremesinghe |
He has been the leader of the UNP since 1994. Earlier he served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1993 to 1994, 2001 to 2004, 2015 to 2018 and 2018 to 2019. He also served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2015. He re-entered Parliament as a National List MP of the United National Party, and was sworn in as a member of parliament on 23 June 2021. In May 2022, Wickremesinghe was re-appointed as prime minister by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Wickremesinghe's top political rival Dullas Daham Kumara Alahapperuma is a former Cabinet Minister of Information and Mass Media and a Matara District member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka. In July 2022, he declared himself a candidate for election of succeeding president following the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. On July 19, he was formally nominated by the Leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa and seconded by SLPP Chairman and MP Professor G. L. Peiris.
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