Sri Lanka's Parliament to elect new president today

Sri Lanka's Parliament will elect a president today, in the aftermath of Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the nation and resigning in the face of growing protests. 

Acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe will face-off against Alahapperuma, a 63-year-old staunch Sinhala Buddhist nationalist, and a key member from the breakaway group of the SLPP, and the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Alahapperuma currently has an edge over Wickremesinghe after he received crucial backing from the opposition parties as well as a majority of lawmakers from his parent party.

After the the original parliamentary composition in August 2020, the ruling SLPP number of 145 had seen reversals with 52 of the lawmakers breaking away.

Alahapperuma is a leader of the breakaway faction. The total of 93 for the SLPP later became 97 with 4 lawmakers returning.

With that 97, Wickremesinghe needs 16 more votes to cross the magical figure of 113. 

He relies on at least nine of the 12 Tamil party votes plus enough defectors from the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB).

However, things might not go according to plan. Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the SJB, on Tuesday backed out in favour of Alahapperuma. 

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), and All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) all decided to support Alahapperuma.

The SJB's original 54 was recently down to 48 and later swelled to 50 after two lawmakers returned. With the SJB bag of 50, plus Alahapperuma's own 10 lawmakers and 28 from other SLPP breakaways, his final tally could reach about 90.

So he needs about 25 from the SLPP. Meanwhile, SLPP Chairman Peiris said that the majority of his party was in favour of appointing Alahapperuma as the president, underlining that the people's voice be highlighted in Parliament.