Uncertainties remain even after the election of new president

Sri Lankan lawmakers chose six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president Wednesday to succeed the ousted leader who fled the country in a vote that risks reigniting political turmoil in the troubled South Asian island nation.

Five-time former Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be reappointed on Thursday in an effort to bring stability to the island nation, engulfed in a political and economic crisis, a party official said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena suspended parliament yesterday to forestall a challenge against his surprise ouster of the prime minister, deepening a sudden swell of political turmoil in the island nation.

President Maithripala Sirisena installed Sri Lanka's controversial former strongman leader Mahinda Rajapakse as the country's new prime minister yesterday, in a surprise move announced moments after the incumbent premier was sacked plunging the country into constitutional crisis.

WINNING a war or revolution, only to lose the subsequent peace, is one of the grim political truths of our time.