Sri Lanka Crisis: 'State of Emergency' declared by Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe

A 'State of Emergency' has been imposed in Sri Lanka effective immediately, Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe announced today. 

The announcement came ahead of the July 20 election for the post of the president which fell vacant after Gotabaya Rajapaksa's resignation following the popular public uprising against him.

The government gazette number 2288/30 dated July 17 was issued Monday morning. The 225-member Parliament is expected to elect the new president on July 20.

The president is empowered to impose emergency regulations in part 2 of the public security ordinance which says "if the president is of the opinion that the police are inadequate to deal with a situation he may gazette an order calling out the armed forces to maintain public order".

Earlier as well, an Emergency was declared in the country after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on a military jet in the face of a public revolt against his government for mishandling the country's economy.