Pressure is mounting on Sri Lanka’s president to allow parliament to decide between two men claiming to be the country’s lawful prime minister, amid warnings that the constitutional dispute could lead to a “bloodbath”.

President Maithripala Sirisena announced on live TV on Friday that Ranil Wickremesinghe, with whom he had governed in a fragile coalition since 2015, had been dismissed. In his place he has appointed the former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. On Monday a cabinet minister was arrested and there were long queues outside petrol stations in the capital, Colombo, as the crisis entered its third day.

Wickremesinghe continued to occupy his official residence, and hundreds of supporters gathered outside, while Rajapaksa took control of the prime ministerial office and starting naming a cabinet. “At the moment there is a vacuum, no one is in full charge of the country,” Wickremesinghe said during a press conference at the residence.

Wickremesinghe argues he cannot legally be dismissed until he loses the support of parliament. His party, which holds a plurality of seats in the 225-member assembly, was prevented from holding a vote when Sirisena abruptly suspended parliament on Saturday until 16 November. Wickremesinghe said in a Facebook post on Monday he had obtained the signatures of 126 MPs calling for parliament to be returned immediately to end the political standoff.(theguardian)…[+]