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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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Irrespective of who becomes the President of Sri Lanka tomorrow it is my humble and earnest request to Hon. PM Shri <a href="https://twitter.com/narendramodi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@narendramodi</a>, to all the political parties of India and to the people of India to keep helping mother Lanka and it&rsquo;s people to come out of this disaster.</p>
&mdash; Sajith Premadasa (@sajithpremadasa) <a href="https://twitter.com/sajithpremadasa/status/1549396778755231746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2022</a></blockquote>
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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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Sri Lanka&#39;s parliament is voting to elect a new president to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country last week as his palace was stormed by angry protesters.</p>
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Analysts say the frontrunner is Ranil Wickremesinghe, a six-time former prime minister who became acting president after his predecessor resigned, but is despised by the protesters who see him as a Rajapaksa ally.</p>
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His main opponent in the vote will be SLPP dissident and former education minister Dullas Alahapperuma, a former journalist who is being supported by the opposition. Alahapperuma pledged this week to form &quot;an actual consensual government for the first time in our history&quot;.</p>
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Wickremesinghe, 73, has the backing of the Rajapaksas&#39; SLPP, the largest bloc in the 225-member parliament, for today&#39;s secret ballot. As acting president, he has extended a state of emergency that gives police and security forces sweeping powers.</p>
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An opposition MP said 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 would side with him. &quot;Ranil is emerging as the law-and-order candidate,&quot; Tamil MP Dharmalingam Sithadthan told AFP.&nbsp;</p>
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His main opponent in the vote will be SLPP dissident and former education minister Dullas Alahapperuma, a former journalist who is being supported by the opposition.</p>
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He is expected to name Sajith Premadasa as his prime minister if he emerges victorious in today&rsquo;s election.</p>
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The third candidate is Anura Dissanayake, 53, leader of the leftist People&#39;s Liberation Front (JVP), whose coalition has only three MPs.</p>
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