The Speaker of the Parliament convened an emergency meeting between the leaders of the parties, which called for the joint resignation of the President and Prime minister.
During the meeting, the party leaders agreed on four actions
1. President and Prime Minister to resign immediately
2. Speaker to act for President for a maximum of 30 days
3. Parliament will elect an MP as President for remained term
4. Appointment of an interim all-party government and elections to be held soon.
Ranil Wickramasinghe had initially refused to resign but following immense pressure from protestors has announced that he will stand down. Though an exact date of his resignation has not been conveyed with reports suggesting that he will resign when an interim government is ready to govern.
This comes as reports have emerged that Sri Lanka's embattled president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has fled the island as tens of thousands of protesters stormed his official residence in Colombo this morning.
Rauff Hakeem, Leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress tweeted the decision of the meeting was to "ask both President and Primeminsiter to resign"
At Speaker’s Residence urgent Party Leader’s meeting. Several other Leaders including PM, AKD and Sumanthiran participated via zoom. Decision to ask both President and PM to resign. Speaker to take over as temporary President according to constitution. pic.twitter.com/RyauaIvCei
— Rauff Hakeem (@Rauff_Hakeem) July 9, 2022
Harsh De Silva a member of Parliament for the opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), tweeted the four key actions agreed upon during the meeting.
Majority party leaders agree on below:
— Harsha de Silva (@HarshadeSilvaMP) July 9, 2022
1. Pres @GotabayaR and PM @RW_UNP to resign immediately
2. Speaker to act for President for maximum 30 days
3. @ParliamentLK will elect MP as President for remainder term.
4. Appoint interim all-party government and elections soon