Sri Lanka’s main Opposition SJB has split over the choice of the next prime minister as its leader Sajith Premadasa is unwilling to be the prime minister in the interim government under embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In a late-night televised address to the nation, the President on Wednesday refused to quit but promised to appoint a new Prime Minister and a young Cabinet this week which would introduce key constitutional reforms to curb his powers, amid protests over the nation’s worst economic crisis that ousted his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa who is under protection at a naval base following violent attacks on his aides.
In a televised address, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said that he without partisanship condemns attacks on peaceful protesters by mobs who came to support his brother and former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who resigned Monday.