Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and President Resign 斯里蘭卡總理.總統請辭 反對黨擬組新政府

After Sri Lanka declared the island nation as bankrupt last week, both of its prime minister and president have confirmed their resignation. Families also took the opportunity to tour their president's residence after it was stormed by protesters. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's opposition parties will meet to discuss the formation of a new government.

Crowds of people splashed in the pool of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's sprawling residence. The gym is also full of people having fun trying out the equipment. Others sleeping in the bedrooms or walking around the residence taking selfies. Sri Lankans protested that the government's incompetence led to the collapse of the economy. After gathering outside the presidential residence, they broke the blockade, captured, and looted the palace. Although there were security personnel outside, they just watched as the masses vent from a distance. President Rajapaksa was no longer in the residence at that time. 

• 燃油耗盡、經濟崩解—斯里蘭卡國家破產

Pierre Reis, Protestor: “This place was not allowed to visit earlier. And as you can see, people are pouring in continously. ”

Richardson, Protestor: “This should be the happiest day of our life. Because he has dropped us. I mean, he has dropped his country. ”

Demonstrators broke into the private residence of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on the 9th and set fire to it. Security personnel had taken him away already. He said that this kind of behavior will only divide society and political parties, and said he will resign once the new government is formed. A few hours later, Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena explained to the public that President Rajapaksa announced his resignation already. It will take time to transfer power, so he will step down on the 13th. According to the country's constitution, if both the president and the prime minister resign, then the speaker of the parliament will be the interim president. Rajapaksa's recent use of various tactics, including financial support from India and China, has failed to resolve the country's worst economic crisis in 70 years. India said the situation was serious and the current focus of the authorities in New Delhi is to help neighboring countries.

Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Indian External Affairs Minister: “Right now, they (Sri Lanka) have to deal, negotiate with the IMF (International Monetary Fund). Those discussions are going on. So we have to see what happens.”

Sri Lanka's opposition parties will meet to discuss the formation of a new government. MP Ranjith Madduma Bandara from the main opposition party United People's Power said that he has discussed and held meetings with other parties and MPs that have left the ruling coalition of President Rajapaksa. Once all opposition parties are united, it will be easy to gain more than half of the parliamentary vote and the 113 seats required to ask Rajapaksa to appoint a new government and resign.

跳進總統官邸內的游泳池，開心玩水，健身房擠滿人，試試器材過過癮，還有人躺在臥室裡睡覺，或在官邸內到處走動自拍。斯里蘭卡民眾抗議政府無能導致經濟崩潰，在總統官邸外聚集後突破封鎖線、攻佔並洗劫，外頭雖有維安人員，但只是遠遠看著群眾發洩，不過當時總統拉賈帕克薩已不在官邸內。

示威者皮爾瑞斯表示：「這個地方總統府以前是不准參觀的，你現在可以看到很多人一直跑進來。」

示威者李察森說：「這應該是我們生命中最快樂的一天，因為他(總統)搶劫我們，我是說他劫走了這個國家。」

此前，示威群眾於9日闖入總理威克瑞米辛赫的私人住宅並縱火，安全人員已將他帶離，他表示這種行為只會使社會和政黨分化，並說一旦新政府成立，他將辭職，幾個小時後，國會議長阿貝瓦達納便對外說明，總統拉賈帕克薩宣布辭職，但移交權力需要時間，因此會在13日下台。而根據憲法規定，總統、總理都辭職，國會議長將會是臨時總統。拉賈帕克薩近期運用各種手段，包括向印度跟中國獲取財務支持但難能化解70年來最嚴重的經濟危機。印度表示，情況嚴重，新德里當局目前的重點是幫助鄰國。

印度外長蘇傑生表示：「斯里蘭卡必須與國際貨幣基金（IMF）進行交易談判，目前討論進行中。」

斯里蘭卡的反對派各政黨將開會商討籌組新政府事宜。主要在野黨「聯合人民力量」國會議員班達拉表示，已跟脫離總統拉賈帕克薩執政聯盟的其他政黨，以及國會議員討論、舉行會議，一旦所有反對黨聯合起來，將很容易獲得國會過半所需的113個席次，屆時將要求拉賈帕克薩任命新政府、請辭。