SL President emails resignation; Speaker to announce officially on Friday

Colombo, July 14 Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday evening emailed his letter of resignation from the post Executive President, but the Speaker has deferred the official announcement till Friday.

Rajapaksa has sent his resignation, but Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena was in confusion on its legality, whether such communication could be sent via email.

While Rajapaksa has assured the authenticity of the letter, the Speaker has sought legal advice from the Attorney General and has decided to make the official announcement only on Friday.

Abeywardena also wants to verify the original signature and has directed to bring the original letter of Rajapaksa to Colombo from Singapore by a diplomatic officer in the next available flight.

Amid violent protest and takeover of President's house on July 9, Rajapaska had promised to resign on Wednesday, but he fled the country in the wee hours of the same day.

He first went to the Maldives in a passenger flight of Sri Lanka Air Force and on Thursday went to Singapore from where he had made the announcement of resignation.