Speaker of the Sri Lanka Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abevarden received a letter from President Gotabai Rajapaksa by e-mail, in which he declared his resignation, reports The Times of India.
Rajapax with his wife and bodyguards left the country on Wednesday and is now in the Maldives, although, according to the media, he is preparing to fly to Singapore.
After the president’s departure from the country in accordance with the Sri Lanka Constitution, his authority on a temporary basis before the election of the new head of state was first transferred to the prime minister, but later assigned to the chairman of the parliament. It is expected that the new President Sri Lanka will be elected parliamentarians on July 20.