Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stepped down after fleeing to Singapore in the face of mass protests, the country's parliament speaker said Friday.
The speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, said he accepted the resignation of Rajapaksa, amid the country's worst economic crisis since independence. Local media reported Thursday that Rajapaksa had tendered his resignation letter to the speaker through the Sri Lankan Embassy in Singapore.
The embattled leader arrived in Singapore on Thursday, a day after he left Sri Lanka for the Maldives aboard a military plane following protests at his official residence in Colombo. The protesters retreated Friday.
Rajapaksa's resignation makes way for a new president to be elected. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasing, an ally of Rajapaksa, is currently serving as acting president of the island nation of 22 million people.
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