MPs to pick new president but no deal on PM

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s leaders agreed that lawmakers will elect a new president next week but struggled to decide on the makeup of a new government to lift the country out of economic and political collapse.

But negotiating a new government has stymied opposition leaders — and the protesters have said they will stay put in the official buildings until their top leaders are gone.

A partial solution came late Monday, with lawmakers agreeing to elect a new president from their ranks in the coming days.

Nominations for the post will be submitted on July 19, and a secret vote will follow in Parliament on July 20.

The new president will serve the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term, which ends in 2024.

But they have not yet decided who will take over as prime minister and fill the Cabinet. Between Rajapaksa’s expected resignation Wednesday and the vote, the prime minster will serve as president — an arrangement that is sure to further anger protesters who want Wickremesinghe out immediately.

The political impasse is further fueling the economic crisis since the absence of an alternative unity government threatened to delay an agreement for aid from the International Monetary Fund.

In the meantime, the country is relying on aid from India and from China.