Sri Lanka looks for a future when the president steps down.

In Colombo,people fed the troops as a way to honour Mr.Rajapaksa's departure

Following the resignation and exile of its president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka is looking for a path out of the country's political and economic disarray.

On Friday, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took the oath of office as interim leader. He has the support of the ruling party to assume the position permanently.

This makes him the front-runner when a new president is chosen the following week, but protesters might find it intolerable.

Rajapaksa's escape to Singapore sparked street parties.

He and his family have been held responsible for Sri Lanka's severe economic crisis, which has led to severe shortages of food, gasoline, and other necessities.

After the curfew was lifted, businesses and shops in the capital city of Colombo reopened on Friday morning, but soldiers were still visible on main highways.

Thousands more people were back in huge lines outside gas stations at the same time.

The procedure for choosing a new president by the parliament started on Saturday, and the vote by MPs is scheduled for July 20. 13 minutes were allotted for the first formal meeting, during which Mr. Rajapaska's letter defending his record was read.

Despite the economic situation we were already in, he remarked, "It is a matter of personal satisfaction for me that I was able to protect our people from the pandemic."

In Sri Lanka, the pandemic claimed the lives of more than 16,500 individuals, while the nation's official foreign exchange reserves decreased during his administration from $7.5 billion (£6.3 billion) to just $1 million.

Mr. Wickremesinghe pledged to move swiftly to install a democratically elected president after taking the oath of office as temporary leader.

"To establish the rule of law and peace in the nation, I will act right away. I wholeheartedly accept the freedom to hold peaceful demonstrations. However, others are attempting to commit sabotage acts "explained he.

Due to the majority held by the governing party, MPs are anticipated to support Mr. Wickremesinghe, who has ties to the Rajapaksa family.

But since Mr. Wickremesinghe's resignation as prime minister was a major demand of protestors, it is unclear whether Sri Lanka's populace would accept this.

Crowds broke into the former prime minister's compound earlier this week, battling with security personnel.

Manuri Pabasari, a protester, told the BBC at the

that a protest march opposing Ranil Wickremesinghe was planned to take place soon.

He is a well-known Rajapaksa loyalist and lacks a mandate from the people, she continued. The future president and prime minister shouldn't be Rajapaksa supporters, I mean.

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In the meantime, Singapore claims that former president Rajapaksa did not request political asylum upon his arrival.

The former president, who arrived with his wife and two bodyguards, is now in a more hazardous situation as he looks for a secure country to take refuge in because he no longer enjoys the legal immunity that comes with being the head of state.

According to Sri Lankan security officials who spoke to the AFP news agency, he is anticipated to remain in Singapore for a while before possibly relocating to the United Arab Emirates.

Sri Lanka: A primer

Off the coast of southern India, on an island, is Sri Lanka. In 1948, it achieved freedom from British sovereignty. The nation's 22 million people are divided into three ethnic groups: Muslims, Sinhalese, and Tamils.

For years, one family of brothers has dominated: After years of a brutal and bloody civil conflict, Mahinda Rajapaksa's administration overcame Tamil separatist insurgents in 2009, making him a hero among the majority Sinhalese. After widespread upheaval, his brother Gotabaya, who at the time served as defence secretary and eventually as president, left the nation.

Despite sharing many executive duties with the prime minister, who is in charge of the majority party in parliament, the president of Sri Lanka is the country's head of state, government, and military.

Now that there is an economic crisis, there is rage on the streets: there are rolling blackouts, shortages of some groceries, medicines, and fuel as a result of rising inflation, and the Rajapaksa family and their government are being blamed by many.