Sri Lanka politics

President Gotabaya, who is the last Rajapaksa still clinging to national office, has not been seen outside his heavily guarded compound.

If the Sri Lankan president was angling for a dignified departure from power, those hopes are unlikely to be fulfilled.

A majority vote in the 225-member Parliament would be needed to remove Rajapaksa and the Cabinet from power. 

But Sri Lanka's ruling family is refusing to heed the demand for their resignation.

“The political and economic crisis have exposed the multiple failures of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa presidency.”

Facing Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis, the Rajapaksa family's appeals to national security and Sinhala Buddhist nationalism may no longer be enough to keep them in power.

The leaderless nature of the protests was part of the attraction for many Sri Lankans. But leaders need to emerge if the movement is going to succeed in bringing about political change.

Bombings on Easter Sunday 2019 killed 269 people. The leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka wants a transparent investigation before talks with the government.

New Delhi has significant stakes in making sure the island nation's ethnic Tamil minority is not further marginalized.

A proposed constitutional amendment would undo the progress made toward an accountable presidency and a strong parliament.

Money, pedigree, sexism and social norms keep Sri Lanka’s largest electorate – the country’s women – out of politics.

Sri Lanka’s ethnic minority remains committed to both, but not one at the expense of the other.