After the office of the President becomes vacant, the current Prime Minister is sworn in to serve as President until a new President is appointed, so he must appoint a minister in the Cabinet to fill the office of Prime Minister.
This is stated in Article 40 (1) (c) of the Constitution.
Accordingly, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe has started working as the Acting President and he took the oath of office today in front of the Chief Justice.
According to the constitution, he must now appoint a cabinet minister for the post of prime minister. In 1993, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, who was the leader of the House at that time, became the Prime Minister.
Due to the assassination of President Ranasinghe Premadasa, the then Prime Minister Mr. DB Wijetunga became the Acting President, and Mr. Wijetunga made Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, who was a member of the Cabinet at that time, as the Prime Minister.
There, the tradition was to treat the Leader of the House of Parliament as senior and worthy after the Prime Minister.
Accordingly, it is stated that this time, Mr. Dinesh Gunawardena, who is the leader of the House and a senior minister, will be appointed as the Acting Prime Minister.
After that, a President is appointed by the Parliament for the remainder of the former President’s term.
It is scheduled to happen on 19.07.2022, after the Speaker explained the current situation and the constitutional procedure to be followed, with the meeting of the Parliament on 16.07.2022.
If nominations are called on that day and more than one nomination is submitted, a vote will be held in Parliament on the 20th.
It is mentioned in the Constitution, Article 40 (1) (a).
Parliament including the Speaker will act accordingly.
This is stated in the constitution as follows.
Back to square one. We the citizenry do not want a PP🌷interim govt. Go for new elections.