evidence: Wickremesinghe had already been serving as interim president since July 15 after his predecessor President Gotabaya Rajapaksa became the first Sri Lankan leader to flee the country and then resign. In a dramatic scene, protesters had stormed the presidential palace on July 9 and demanded that Rajapaksa step down, which he did on July 14 after leaving Sri Lanka. Although Wickremesinghe is backed by the country’s ruling coalition led by the nationalist Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), demonstrators had already been calling on Wickremesinghe to step aside ahead of the vote. Some protesters were burning Wickremesinghe’s effigy, according to the Associated Press. [...] Protesters are seemingly as opposed to Wickremesinghe as they were to Rajapaksa. A key demand of the demonstrators has been to abolish the office of the executive, which includes both Sri Lanka’s president and prime minister, in order to make way for an interim government for up to one year to help resuscitate the economy.