Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka Mahinda Yapa Abiwardana announced that the Parliament will elect a new president on July 20, after the resignation of President Gotabay Rajapaksa. The department indicated that “presidential nominations will be accepted on July 19, and the deputies will vote the next day.”

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Acting President. According to the constitution, the Prime Minister automatically becomes Acting President, so Parliament can elect a Deputy President for the remainder of Rajapaksa’s term.

Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abhiwardana earlier announced the acceptance of the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabay Rajapaksa after he fled abroad after demonstrators stormed his residence last week. “Gotabaya resigned legally and I accepted the resignation,” he said in a press statement.

The President of Sri Lanka sent a letter of resignation from Singapore electronically on Thursday.

A Male airport official told AFP that “the President of Sri Lanka left the Maldives on a Saudi Airlines plane bound for Singapore” a day after he fled the country from Colombo to the atoll.