Leader of the Opposition of Sri Lanka, Sajith Premadasa, told the BBC on Tuesday, 12 July, that he intends to run for president after Gotabaya Rajapaksa officially steps down on 13 July.
His party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), has already started holding talks with allies for parliamentary support.
"We are not going to hoodwink the people. We are going to be frank and present a plan to get rid of Sri Lanka's economic ills," Premadasa said.
Some of the other names that are running around for the job are:
Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP, a socialist party
M A Sumanthiran of the ITAK, a party that represents the Tamil minority
Saliya Pieris, the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's Political and Economic Crisis: Background
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, whose residence was stormed by protesters on Saturday, 9 July, will resign from his post on Wednesday.
The day also saw the resignation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Consequently, the House Speaker will become president for the next 30 days until Parliament elects a new president.
Sri Lanka is going through an economic meltdown of a scale unseen since the country's financial crisis of 1948. Prices of essential commodities like rice, milk, and oil have skyrocketed.
The main cause is the shortage of foreign currency, which has led to a huge reduction in imports of essential items like petroleum, food, paper, sugar, lentils, medicines, and transportation equipment.
You can read The Quint's coverage of the crisis here.
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