evidence: [4] Many believe that Rajapaksa was on the verge of resigning and would have done so had Wickremesinghe not accepted the job. The president had earlier offered the position of prime minister to several other senior politicians. All refused unless he agreed to step down as part of an agreed sequence that would see an interim government leading to elections and a referendum to end the strongly presidential system of government and return to a Westminster parliamentary model. Crisis Group interviews, politicians, journalists and activists, Colombo, March 2023. [...] Thirdly, Wickremesinghe has sought to avoid major reform of Sri Lanka’s system of governance and declined to demand judicial or electoral accountability from the nation’s leaders. Part of the reason is the political constraints upon him: retaining the support of the Rajapaksa-led SLPP and its majority in parliament depends on foiling aragalaya demands that the executive presidency’s powers be trimmed and that state officials be held accountable for misuse of office. Instead, the Wickremesinghe government secured a largely ineffectual amendment of the constitution that restored a modicum of independence to oversight commissions for the police, human rights and other issues.[8] Wickremesinghe’s reliance on SLPP support has also inhibited investigations into alleged cases of corruption involving the Rajapaksa family or the economic mismanagement that led to the 2022 crisis.[9]