Colombo

Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in as Sri Lanka’s 8th President at the country's parliament on Thursday.

Wickremesinghe was administered the oath of office by the chief justice of Sri Lanka, a day after he won a parliament vote.

During Wednesday's vote, Ranil Wickremesinghe received 134 votes following the resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa from the presidency last week amid severe economic turmoil in the country.

After winning the parliament vote by secret ballot, Wickremesinghe addressed the parliament, calling on all legislators including the opposition parliamentarians to unite and work together with him to lead Sri Lanka out of the current economic crisis.

"We are at a critical juncture. There is an economic crisis and the youth want a system change. People want all parliamentarians to come together," he said.

Out of the 225 parliamentarians, 223 voted to elect a new president and there were four invalid votes.

The other two candidates in the race Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party MP Dullas Alahapperuma, and National People's Power leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake, got 82 votes and three votes, respectively.

Wickremesinghe was the Prime Minister of the island nation till he resigned earlier this month.

He has been PM of the country six times.

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Earlier, Wickremesinghe was appointed as the interim president of Sri Lanka after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled abroad after his palace was stormed by angry protesters demanding his resignation.