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Ranil Wickremesinghe, 73, was elected as the new President of Sri Lanka today with the backing of the Rajapaksa family controlled SLPP, the largest bloc in the&nbsp; country&rsquo;s 225-member parliament that cast its secret ballot.</p>
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He defeated party rebel Dullus Alahapperuma, with 134 votes to 82 in the parliamentary vote on Wednesday despite being unpopular with the public. Alahapperuma was supported by the opposition parties.</p>
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As acting president, Wickremensighe has extended a state of emergency that gives police and security forces sweeping powers.</p>
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Sri Lanka&#39;s parliament voted to elect a new president to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country last week after his palace was stormed by angry protesters. He later sent his resignation letter from Singapore.</p>
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According to analysts, Wickremesinghe&#39;s hardline stance against demonstrators was going down well with MPs who had been at the receiving end of mob violence, and most SLPP legislators voted for him.</p>
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Ranil Wickremesinghe, a six-time former prime minister who became acting president after his predecessor resigned, but is hated by the protesters who see him as a Rajapaksa ally.</p>
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His main opponent in the vote was SLPP dissident and former education minister Dullas Alahapperuma, a former journalist who was being supported by the opposition.</p>
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Ahead of the voting to elect Sri Lanka&rsquo;s new President today, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa has made a request to India to keep supporting the island nation irrespective of who is elected to the top post.</p>
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Mr Premdasa, the leader of Sri Lanka&#39;s Opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegaya, tweeted last evening, &quot;Irrespective of who becomes the President of Sri Lanka tomorrow it is my humble and earnest request to Hon. PM Shri @narendramodi, to all the political parties of India and to the people of India to keep helping mother Lanka and it&#39;s people to come out of this disaster.&quot;</p>
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Premadasa withdrew from the presidential race in favour of Alahapperuma. He tweeted that &quot;for the greater good of my country that I love and the people I cherish&quot; his party will support Dullas Alahapperuma, a former media minister.</p>
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The third candidate was&nbsp; Anura Dissanayake, 53, leader of the leftist People&#39;s Liberation Front (JVP), whose coalition has only three MPs.</p>
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