Exile of Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a Sri Lankan politician and former military officer who served as the 8th president of Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022, initiated a self-imposed exile on 13 July 2022, following widespread protests led by civilians demanding his resignation, triggered by extensive discontent over his handling of the country's economic crisis.

On 13 July 2022, following a string of mammoth protests that eventually culminated into a civilian takeover of his official residence and workplace by protestors, Rajapaksa fled the country, accompanied by his spouse and a personal security detail, to the Maldives, before further retreating to Singapore on 14 July. On 14 July, whilst in exile, Rajapaksa resigned the presidency, becoming the first Sri Lankan president to relinquish the office mid-term. His official letter of resignation, which was emailed to Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament, was announced later that day, and was consequently accepted the following day, on 15 July.

Rajapaksa's resignation triggered widespread celebrations amongst the Sri Lankan people, many of whom had long demanded the removal of the Rajapaksa family from power. Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran politician whom Rajapaksa had earlier appointed as the country's prime minister, succeeded Rajapaksa as interim president on 15 July and was officially elected to the presidency five days later, on 20 July.

Amidst intensifying calls for holding him accountable for the nation's socio-economic quagmire in the wake of his resignation, Rajapaksa remained in exile in Singapore, before moving to Thailand in August, where he spent the remainder of his exile discreetly. In the midst of intense debating amongst many over a possible homecoming, on 2 September 2022, Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka, ending 52 days of self-imposed exile.

Background

Biography

Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Sinhala: නන්දසේන ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ; Tamil: நந்தசேன கோட்டாபய ராஜபக்ஸ), a noteworthy member of the Rajapaksa political lineage, was a former lieutenant colonel in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who served during the initial stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War, from 1971 to 1991. Following a distinguished career in the military, Rajapaksa became a technocrat in the field of information technology, emigrating to the United States in 1998, where he acquired a dual citizenship.