Sri Lanka's new President to be elected on July 20: Minister

Minister of Urban Development and Housing Prasanna Ranatunga on Monday announced that the new President of Sri Lanka will be elected on July 20Ranatunga said that the party leaders have decided to elect a new President on July 20 if President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigns on July 13 reported NewsWireThe following events will take place if the President resigns on 13th July as decided at the party leaders meeting Parliament will be convened on July 15 Nominations for the post of President will be accepted on July 19 and the new President will be elected on July 20The development comes after thousands of people stormed into the Presidents House in Fort on Saturday The dramatic visuals came from PMs official residence where they were seen playing carrom board sleeping on the sofa enjoying in park premises and preparing food for dinnerAlso Read PHOTOS Angry protestors in Sri Lanka storm inside presidents houseEven Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also announced to step down from his posts amid the ongoing protests However the protesters who have occupied the residences of the President and Prime Minister have cleared that they will continue to occupy their houses until they resign from their postsThe worsening economic situation in the country has led to increasing tensions and over the last few weeks there were reports of several confrontations between individuals and members of the police force and the armed forces at fuel stations where thousands of desperate members of the public have queued for hours and sometimes daysSri Lanka is suffering its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948 which comes on the heels of successive waves of COVID19 threatening to undo years of development progressEarlier on Saturday Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced in a press conference that the President will resign from his post on July 13President Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially informed PM Wickremesinghe that he is resigning from his postMeanwhile former Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya called the 9th of July the day when the demonstration started a public dayThe oil supply shortage has forced schools and government offices to close until further noticeAmid the fuel shortage in Sri Lanka the 1990 emergency ambulance service has been suspended in several areasThe Suwa Seriya Ambulance Service had urged the public to refrain from calling the 1990 emergency ambulance service in the affected areas Colombo Gazette reportedThe economic crisis has particularly impacted food security agriculture livelihoods and access to health servicesSri Lanka is one of the few nations named by the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO which is expected to go without food due to the global food shortage expected this yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever