Dinesh Gunawardena Appointed Sri Lanka's Prime Minister

The 73-year-old has earlier served as the foreign minister and education minister of the country.

Veteran politician and former Home Minister Dinesh Gunawardena became Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister on Friday, 22 July.

(Photo: The Quint)

Veteran politician and former Home Minister Dinesh Gunawardena took over as Sri Lanka's new Prime Minister on Friday, 22 July. The leader took the oath of office at the Prime Minister’s Office on Flower Road, Colombo.

The 73-year-old earlier served as the foreign minister and education minister.

The development comes in the midst of the country combatting the worst economic crisis in its independent history, and witnessing a wave of anti-government protests.

The PM's chair had fallen vacant after Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as the crisis-ridden country's eighth president, after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country and tendered his resignation.

Gunawardena has called for bipartisanship to address the crisis facing the country.

Fresh had erupted in Sri Lanka on Wednesday, after Wickremesinghe's election as the president, with visuals from the island nation's capital showing sloganeering outside the Presidential Secretariat building.

(With inputs from PTI.)