Wickremesinghe elected new Sri Lanka president

Gulf News

Can the new leader rescue the country from its worst economic crisis?  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/special-reports/will-ranil-wickremesinghes-election-as-president-resolve-the-sri-lanka-crisis-1.1658319118429  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #srilanka #Wickremesinghe

Transcript

00:00Ranil Vikramasinghe was elected president by Sri Lanka's parliament on Wednesday.

00:08Despite fierce public opposition to the acting president's candidacy, he secured 134 votes

00:15in the 225-member house.

00:20Supporters hope his long experience in government will help end the country's most crippling

00:25economic and political crisis in seven decades.

00:30After he was elected, Vikramasinghe spoke of the mass protests that led to the ouster

00:35of the previous president, Gautama Rajapaksa.

00:43The economy of the country today is in a very difficult place.

00:46Young men and women are asking for change in the system.

00:50There are many problems in the world and we must proceed without getting caught in them.

00:55To go forward, we need to come up with a new programme.

00:58What the people are asking of us is not old politics.

01:01The parliament must unite in the face of these issues.

01:09Many who took to the streets last week had wanted Vikramasinghe gone too, labelling him

01:14an ally of the Rajapaksa family.

01:18But so far, protests have been muted after the vote.

01:22The presidential secretariat that was stormed by a sea of protesters in early July was almost

01:28deserted on Wednesday as Vikramasinghe was voted in.

01:33Soon after the election result was announced, a burst of chants broke out against Vikramasinghe.

01:42It lasted only a few minutes before this small group of protesters left the steps of the

01:47secretariat.

01:50Some vowed to keep up their protest against the new leader.

01:53We won't back down.

01:55We won't let this be.

01:57We won't settle for any less because at the same time, this is exactly what we're fighting

02:02for.

02:03We're fighting to not settle for any less and to not be comfortable in the uncomfortable

02:10but fight for what we deserve.

02:14Vikramasinghe has served as Sri Lanka's prime minister a record six times and unsuccessfully

02:20ran for president twice.

02:23His experience in senior government positions and reputation as a shrewd operator should

02:28count in his favour as he seeks a way out of the crisis.

02:44For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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