Key members of Sri Lanka's ruling party want PM as president, no decision yet

Key members of Sri Lanka's ruling party are keen to back Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as their presidential nominee though no decision has been taken yet, a top ruling party source told Reuters on Wednesday.

The source said on condition of anonymity that the members met on Tuesday evening and their "overwhelming consensus" was for Wickremesinghe to replace President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has fled to the Maldives after protesters stormed his residence on Saturday.

Protesters have also demanded the ouster of Wickremesinghe, who himself has offered to resign as prime minister to make way for a unity government.

Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament, told Reuters partner ANI he was yet to receive any communication from Rajapaksa. A source in the ruling party said the president would send in a letter of resignation later on Wednesday.

That would make Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe the acting president, although he has also offered to resign. If he does, the speaker will be the acting president until a new president is elected, as per the constitution.

A statement from protests leaders, however, has warned of a "decisive fight" if Wickremesinghe does not resign by Wednesday afternoon.

"If we don't hear of the resignation of the president and the prime minister by the evening, we may have to gather back and take over parliament or another government building," said Buddhi Prabodha Karunaratne, one of the organisers of recent protests.

"We are strongly against the Gota-Ranil government. Both have to go."

Amid the economic and political chaos, Sri Lanka's sovereign bond prices hit fresh record lows on Wednesday.

The US Embassy in Colombo, which is in the central district of the city, said it was cancelling consular services for the afternoon and for Thursday as a precautionary measure.

Sri Lanka president's resignation could reach parliamentary speaker by midday: Source

VICTIM OF PANDEMIC

The island nation's tourism-dependent economy was hammered first by the Covid-19 pandemic and then suffered from a fall in remittances from overseas Sri Lankans. A ban on chemical fertilisers hit output although the ban was later reversed.

The Rajapaksas implemented populist tax cuts in 2019 that affected government finances while shrinking foreign reserves curtailed imports of fuel, food and medicines.

Petrol has been severely rationed and long lines have formed in front of shops selling cooking gas. Headline inflation hit 54.6% last month and the central bank has warned that it could rise to 70% in coming months.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, the president's elder brother, resigned as prime minister in May after protests against the family turned violent. He remained in hiding at a military base in the east of the country for some days before returning to Colombo.

In May, the Rajapaksa government appointed Mohammed Nasheed, the speaker of the Maldives parliament and a former president, to help coordinate foreign assistance for crisis-hit Sri Lanka.

The same month, Nasheed publicly denied allegations that he was helping Mahinda Rajapaksa secure safe haven in the Maldives.

Media reports in the Maldives said the Sri Lankan president had arrived in the country early on Wednesday although Reuters was unable to independently verify this.

A Maldives government spokesman did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.

On Tuesday, Sri Lankan immigration officials prevented Basil Rajapaksa from flying out of the country.

It was not clear where Basil Rajapaksa, who also holds US citizenship, was trying to go. He resigned as finance minister in early April amid heavy street protests and quit his seat in parliament in June.