Sri Lankan president revokes emergency after dozens of lawmakers walk out of ruling coalition

President will not resign under any circumstances, chief government whip says

Sri Lanka’s president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday night lifted the state of emergency in the country even as protests continued amid the departure of several government lawmakers from his coalition government.

The president had invoked the law on 1 April after demonstrations erupted right outside his house as Sri Lanka continued to deal with its worst economic crisis in decades.

In unprecedented protests in capital Colombo, people have demanded Mr Rajapaksa’s resignation along with that of his brother, prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, and other members of the Rajapaksa family who are in the government.

But the president has said he will not resign from his post “under any circumstances”.

Chief government whip Johnston Fernando told parliament on Wednesday: “As a responsible government, we state President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign from his post under any circumstances.”

The economic crisis comes amid months of shortages of food, fuel and prolonged power cuts lasting up to 13 hours in the country. Scores of members of parliament have already quit, and nearly all Cabinet ministers were forced to resign.

Forty-one members of parliament had left the president’s coalition government earlier on Tuesday to “represent themselves independently”.

In another setback, the newly-appointed finance minister of the country, Ali Sabry, who replaced the president’s brother Basil Rajapaksa, also handed in his resignation on Tuesday. He was supposed to have a crucial meeting with the International Monetary Fund for a loan programme.

Mr Sabry, in his resignation letter, said he was acting in the “best interests of the country”.

Independent parliamentarians, however, have said that they might continue to support government proposals in the House.

Maithripala Sirisena, leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party that withdrew its support for Rajapaksa’s coalition, told Parliament on Tuesday: “There are endless shortages of essentials including fuel and cooking gas. Hospitals are on the verge of closing because there are no medicines. At such a time, our party is on the side of the people.”

The Government Medical Officers Association — with over 16,000 doctors nationwide — has said that there is also an acute shortage of medicines, including life-saving drugs.

“Failure to assure a continuous and adequate supply of essential medical drugs will lead to the collapse of the entire health system,” it told the health ministry in a letter. “This will create a life-threatening situation for our citizens who are already facing an unprecedented crisis situation.”

Experts say that the country’s usable foreign reserves are said to be less than $400m. It also has nearly $7bn in foreign debt obligations for this year alone.