Sri Lanka: Parliamentary elections to be held before time, new president announced- Parliament will be dissolved in 2 days

Anura Kumara Dissanayake took oath as the new President of Sri Lanka on Monday. After taking oath, Dissanayake has said that the current Parliament will be dissolved in two days. With this, parliamentary elections are now expected to be held in Sri Lanka in the month of November. Senior Election Commission official Saman Sri Ratnayake told the media that parliamentary elections can be held between 52 to 66 days from the date of dissolution of Parliament, while the next general parliamentary election is scheduled to be held in August 2025.

56-year-old Dissanayake was sworn in as the ninth President of Sri Lanka by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday. After this, in his first speech, he made many promises to the people of the country and appealed for their support. Marxist leader Dissanayake had said in the Kandy city of Central Sri Lanka that the mandate of the current Parliament has ended and he will dissolve the Parliament immediately after his victory.

The Prime Minister resigned before the President was sworn in.

After the change of power in the country following the presidential election, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardene resigned from his post, just hours after which Dissanayake's swearing-in ceremony took place. 75-year-old Gunawardene has been the Prime Minister of the country since July 2022, Gunawardene said in a letter to Dissanayake that he is resigning from the post because the new President has been elected and he will prepare the environment for the appointment of a new cabinet.

The caretaker cabinet will take over the responsibility.

Dissanayake said he wanted to form a new assembly to push his National People's Power (NPP) reform agenda. The new NPP member who replaced Dissanayake was gazetted in Parliament on Monday and with his appointment, the new government will form a four-member cabinet. The caretaker cabinet will hold office until the elections are held. Government sources said the cabinet could be appointed on Tuesday.

There are a total of 225 seats in the Sri Lankan Parliament.

Sri Lanka has 225 parliamentary seats and the last election for it was held in August 2020. After the economic crisis in the country, there were massive protests in 2022 and as a result, Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted from power. This was the first presidential election after that. In the election results on Saturday, Dissanayake defeated his nearest rival Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).