VIDEO SHOWS: OFFICIALS COUNTING VOTES / SOUNDBITES FROM SECRETARY GENERAL OF PARLIAMENT DHAMMIKA DASANAYAKE AND PRESIDENT-ELECT RANIL WICKREMESINGHE / MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT REACTING
SHOWS: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (JULY 20, 2022) (PARLIAMENT TV - Access all)
1. (MUTE) MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SEATED AS OFFICIALS COUNT BALLOTS
2. OFFICIALS COUNTING BALLOTS FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
3. (MUTE) OFFICIALS FINISHING BALLOT COUNT, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SEATED
4. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) SECRETARY GENERAL OF PARLIAMENT DHAMMIKA DASANAYAKE, SAYING:
"Honourable member of parliament Ranil Wickremesinghe has received 134 votes."
5. SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT-ELECT RANIL WICKEMESINGHE SITTING, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT HITTING TABLES AND REACTING
6. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) SECRETARY GENERAL OF PARLIAMENT DHAMMIKA DASANAYAKE, SAYING:
"I announce that in accordance with the the special provisions act of the 1981, section two, for the election of the president Honourable member of Parliament Ranil Wickremesing has been duly elected by parliament by a simple majority as the eighth executive president of the of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka."
7. WICKEMESINGHE STANDING UP FOR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
8. MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT SEATED AND REACTING
9. (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) SRI LANKAN PRESIDENT-ELECT RANIL WICKEMESINGHE, SAYING:
"The economy of the country today is in a very difficult place. Young men and women are asking for change in the system. There are many problems in the world and we must proceed without getting caught in them. To go forward we need to come up with a new program. What the people are asking of us is not the old politics. the parliament must unite in the face of these issues."
10. OFFICIALS DISMANTLING TABLE USED DURING BALLOT COUNTING
STORY: Sri Lankan lawmakers voted acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the new president on Wednesday (July 20), hoping he would pull the country out of a crippling economic and political crisis.
"Ranil Wickremesing has been duly elected by parliament by a simple majority as the eighth executive president of the of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka," Dhammika Dasanayake, the secretary general of parliament said after counting finished.
The win for Wickremesinghe, opposed by many ordinary Sri Lankans, could lead to more demonstrations by people furious with the ruling elite after months of severe shortages of fuel, food and medicines, several protesters have said.
"What the people are asking of us is not the old politics. the parliament must unite in the face of these issues," the 73-year-old said after his victory.
The other main candidate, ruling party lawmaker Dullas Alahapperuma, was more acceptable to the protesters and the opposition but did not have any top-level governance experience in a country with barely any dollars for imports and desperately in need of an IMF bailout. The 225-member parliament gave 134 votes to Wickremesinghe and 82 to Alahapperuma. A third candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, got just three votes.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr86EXgWMNk