Colombo, Sri Lanka’s acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe today declared a state of emergency, two days before the country’s lawmakers are set to elect a new President, the Associated Press reported.

Wickremesinghe became acting president on Friday after his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, fled abroad on Wednesday and resigned after months-long protests over the country’s economic collapse.

Lawmakers who met on Saturday began the process of electing a new leader to serve the rest of the term abandoned by Rajapaksa. Nominations for the election of the new president will be unveiled tomorrow “Tuesday”. In case there are more than one candidate, the lawmakers will vote on Wednesday.

Source: Oman News Agency