Sri Lanka president to resign after protesters storm house

Bloomberg

After months of persistent street protests over fuel shortages, surging prices and financial mismanagement, Sri Lankan leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa is finally on the verge of being ousted.
The president fled to an undisclosed location shortly before demonstrators stormed his official seaside residence in the face of tear gas and rubber bullets. In dramatic scenes, they wandered through the rooms, frolicked in the swimming pool and helped themselves to food and drink— a reminder of the struggle to find basic goods with inflation set to hit 70%.
Hours later, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena announced on national television that Rajapaksa would step down on Wednesday. While the president had previously vowed to serve out the remaining two years of his term, he was surprised that protesters would break into his residence even with an overnight curfew, limited public transport and a lack of petrol, according to a government official familiar with the events.
Protesters also breached both the official and private residences of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who offered to resign as well. His whereabouts were also kept secret after one of his homes was set on fire and security forces assaulted media personnel— one of the few instances of violence during the hourslong mass protest.
“People have had enough of the economic situation,” said Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives. “The frustration is palpable and it is worrying as the country needs a peaceful transition of power now with the economic problems we have. The power vacuum will need to be addressed.”
While Rajapaksa had previously survived displays of violence, including the torching of his family’s ancestral house in southern Sri Lanka on May 9, public anger intensified as fuel shortages worsened. The storming of his residence came less than two weeks after the government abruptly restricted fuel supplies and told residents to stay home.
The uncertainty raises more questions about discussions with the International Monetary Fund on a loan program to help shore up reserves and pay for imports of food and fuel. The global monetary body said over the weekend it would continue technical discussions with Sri Lanka’s Finance Ministry and central bank.
It’s not clear where things go from here. In an all-party meeting on Saturday, leaders demanded that both Rajapaksa and Wickremesinghe resign. The parliament speaker would then act as interim president for 30 days before the legislature votes in a new leader and government. Elections would follow after that. Both leaders signaled they would step aside, but that has yet to officially happen.
Rajapaksa hasn’t made any public remarks even though he told the parliament speaker that he would leave office. Shortly before the decision was made public, the president mulled whether to impose another emergency and curfew but he was advised against it, said the government official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
On Sunday, Rajapaksa ordered government officials to expedite gas distribution to the public as soon as a shipment comes in later in the day, according to a statement from his office. Another gas cargo is set to arrive on Monday. Calls to Rajapakasa’s media representatives went unanswered over the weekend.
Wickremesinghe’s media office said he would stay on as caretaker prime minister until a new government was sworn in, to help oversee fuel distribution and present a debt sustainability report to the IMF.