COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Six times Sri Lanka’s prime minister, President Ranil Wickremesinghe had long aspired to the pinnacle of power, enduring setback after setback but always managing to recover from seemingly impossible defeats.
He has moved quickly to consolidate his position since lawmakers elected him this week to finish the term of his predecessor, ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. In the wee hours Friday, army troops and police forcefully cleared the capital’s main protest site of demonstrators who had occupied it for months, angry over the country’s economic collapse.
On Friday, he appointed a classmate and ally of Rajapaksa, Dinesh Gunawardena, to be his prime minister and partner in rescuing the country from its predicament. The question is whether they can muster the political heft and public support to get the job done.
Even his critics respect Wickremesinghe for his perseverance.
“If you are broken down and think you can’t get what you want just look at a picture of Ranil Wickremesinghe,” said lawmaker Udaya Gammanpila, who supported Wickremesinghe’s main rival in the presidential vote.
Wickremesinghe is a divisive figure, unpopular among Sri Lankans fed up with shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Last week, protesters burned his private residence to the ground.
He’s as well qualified as anyone after nearly a half-century in politics, but it’s unclear that the wiles that kept him head of his party for most of that time will suffice to overcome a tide of public antagonism. Few view Wickremesinghe as a real change from the government that was toppled earlier this month when Rajapaksa fled the country as angry crowds stormed his office.
Born into a wealthy, politically active family whose fortune was made in timber and the media, Wickremesinghe trained as a lawyer and was elected to Parliament for the first time exactly 45 years before he took the oath of office Thursday.
In coming days, he is expected to make a major policy speech laying out plans for fixing Sri Lanka’s dire economic, humanitarian and political crisis.
Speaking just after he was pronounced the winner of Wednesday’s secret ballot in Parliament, Wickremesinghe urged fellow lawmakers to unite in saving the nation.
“People are not expecting the old politics from us, they expect us to work together,” he said.
Meanwhile, out on the streets, protesters were chanting, “Ranil, go home!”
Over the years, Wickremesinghe has moved in and out of the prime minister’s office as his United National Party gained and lost power. But he coveted the top post, where the real power lies, running for office twice, in 1999 and 2005.In 2020, Wickremesinghe’s party splintered and suffered a humiliating defeat in national elections. He became its sole representative in Parliament, appointed rather than elected to his seat based on the proportion of votes. Detractors argued he lacks any mandate.