Sri Lankan Prime Minister Resigns as Violent Protests Erupt Nationwide
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A political crisis in Sri Lanka turned constitutional on May 9, as Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned after violent protests nationwide.
Rajapaksa, a 76-year-old former president of Sri Lanka, submitted his resignation to Gottabaya Rajapaksa, his younger brother and the incumbent President of Sri Lanka. Mahinda was widely seen as the country’s de facto ruler. Barred by presidential term-limits from serving in office, Gottabaya returned from the U.S. in 2019 at his brother’s behest and relinquished his American citizenship to run for the presidency.
The decision comes as the island nation was placed under a nationwide state of emergency and curfew as anti-government and pro-Rajapaksa protesters clashed violently over the weekend, with the largest violence being in the capital, Colombo. Protests had been occurring for the last several weeks, but only recently turned violent.
Over 100 people were seriously injured in weekend violence while a Member of Parliament, Amarkeerthi Athukorala, was lynched by a mob in a rural area after shooting two protesters who blocked his car.
The protests come as Sri Lanka faces its worst economic crisis in history, since the country gained independence from Britain in 1948. Inflation in Sri Lanka reached nearly 30 percent in April, a jump from 21.5 percent in March. The cost of everyday foodstuffs, such as vegetables and grains, have fluctuated rapidly over the last two months, sometimes changing several times a day.
In the backdrop of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the price of fuel has also soared, with power cuts – sometimes exceeding ten hours at a time – being imposed across the country to ration energy, even as the equatorial nation faces temperatures exceeding 90 degrees Fahrenheit. They were the longest power cuts the country has faced in 26 years.
Alongside soaring inflation, the country defaulted on all of its $51 billion foreign debt in April, the first time it has done so. Its economy, heavily reliant on tourism, is still recovering from the effects of Covid-19 on international travel and tourist consumption. Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, and Fitch have all since downgraded Sri Lankan public bonds to junk status, and the country has struggled to raise funds.
The Governor of the Sri Lankan central bank has even appealed for “donations” in U.S. Dollars, Euros, and Pounds Sterling for “the importation of essentials, such as food, fuel, and medicine,” as its foreign reserves have fallen below $50 million. Negotiations with the IMF are underway but are expected to take at least six months to conclude, if not longer.
The crisis has bred considerable anger at the government, with Mahinda Rajapaksa being widely seen as the man responsible. Anti-government protesters have held massive demonstrations outside the prime minister and president’s official residences in Colombo every day for the last month, which were recently dispersed forcibly by the Sri Lankan military and riot police.
Protesters have alleged that security forces and pro-Rajapaksa groups have burned their property and attacked them with iron poles, with reprisals underway against them. The government has denied their allegations.
Rajapaksa’s resignation, by default, dissolves the Cabinet. In his resignation letter, he called on his brother to appoint an “all-party government to guide the country out of the current economic crisis.” Opposition parties, however, have refused to join any pro-Rajapaksa party and called on the president to resign, instead, and hold a general election.
The Rajapaksa family has previously been criticized for corruption, human rights violations against ethnic Tamils, and its proximity to China, which controversially secured a 99-year lease on the country’s Hambantota deep-water port. Per reporting by the Wall Street Journal, Sri Lanka is said to be considering Chinese financial assistance, failing support from nearby India and the IMF.
