Published: Just now
Former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has been sworn in as president of the country in dire straits, his office said.
Wickremesinghe, who has been acting president since Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and resigned last week, won a landslide victory in parliament on Wednesday. The short ceremony would have been shown live on local television, but the broadcast was interrupted for unknown reasons just before Wickremesinghe would swear an oath. The interruption is under investigation.
Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to form a government that is intended to lead the country out of the economic crisis that led to extensive and protracted demonstrations that forced the former president to resign.
Sri Lanka has been hit by prolonged power outages and the population has been suffering from a shortage of fuel, food and medicine for several months.