Colombo, April 5 (AFP/APP): Sri Lanka’s president lost his parliamentary majority Tuesday as former allies urged his resignation following days of street protests over the island nation’s crippling economic crisis.
Unprecedented shortages of food and fuel along with record inflation and blackouts have inflicted widespread misery in the country’s most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s once-powerful ruling coalition is in turmoil after a string of defections, capped Tuesday by the new finance minister’s resignation just one day after taking office.
Anti-Rajapaksa demonstrations continued for a fifth straight day, but in a late night move, the president lifted the state of emergency he had imposed five days earlier to contain protests.
The move was clearly aimed at avoiding a vote on the extraordinary laws in parliament where the government is five short of the 113 seats required for a simple majority.
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