Sri Lanka's acting president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, won a vote in parliament on Wednesday to be the next president until 2024, taking over from former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa who resigned after fleeing the country last week.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters had flooded the streets of the island nation to demand Rajapaksa's resignation over his government's handling of a crippling economic crisis.
Here are some reactions to the victory.
MAIN OPPOSITION LEADER SAJITH PREMADASA:
"We now have to consider how we ended up here, in the middle of a presidential term, to elect a new president.
"It was because of a massive public wave against an elected president. This is now an outdated parliament, with a mandate given for an ousted president.
"We must work according to the constitution. The reality is people are struggling without fuel, food and basics.
"We must have a national policy with clear timelines to put the economy on track and save this country. As the opposition we will give our utmost support for this."
PROTESTER BUWANAKA PERERA:
"The occupy movement shall continue, the struggle shall continue. The reason why people came out against Gota (Rajapaksa) was not a personal grudge.
"It was protesting ideals and values he held. We see those same values, corruption and oppression in Ranil. We will continue the protest until Ranil goes home.
"It might take us a week, a month, two months, or 98 days. But we know people in Sri Lanka are not going to stand for it. We will get back on the streets and continue."
PROTEST ORGANISER CHAMEERA DEDDUWAGE:
"What does it mean for the struggle? For one thing, it means that the struggle will have to be satisfied with its primary demand, i.e. resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
"It also means that the struggle, in one form or another, will have to find new ways to win our remaining demands.
"Unlike Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Ranil is not a populist: he's known to be a ruthless pragmatist. I think the immediate concern is the possible prosecution of leading members of the struggle."
OPPOSITION LAWMAKER ERAN WICKRAMARATNE ON TWITTER:
"I hope the outcome would facilitate immediate political stability that is an imperative pre-requisite to stabilise the economy, so a general election can be called to restore people's mandate thereafter."
LAWMAKER AND PRESIDENTIAL RIVAL DULLAS ALAHAPPERUMA:
"I accept the decision of parliament.
"My effort was to support consensus-based policy-making to provide solutions to a deeply suffering population.
"I believe the space for that still exists and I will continue to work to strengthen that effort and work for the people.
"This is simply another milestone in my career. I hope that at least now you will cultivate the mentality to listen to the suffering masses."
PROTESTER DAMITHA ABEYRATHNE:
"We're shocked. He (Ranil) is a person handling things in a very cunning way. He will start controlling us in a different way. As protesters we will start our struggle again."
PROTESTER KASUMI RANASINGHE ARACHCHIGE:
"I am not surprised, but still disappointed at how corrupt and unfair the system is. We won't back down, we won't settle for anything less.
"We will fight for what we deserve. People deserve fuel, transportation, we deserve anything citizens need. Until we see no one in Sri Lanka is struggling, the protest continues."
STATEMENT OF INDIAN EMBASSY IN SRI LANKA AFTER RESULT:
"As a close friend and neighbour of Sri Lanka and a fellow democracy, we will continue to be supportive of the quest of the people of Sri Lanka for stability and economic recovery, through democratic means and values, established democratic institutions and constitutional framework."
CHARU CHANANA, MARKET STRATEGIST, SAXO CAPITAL MARKETS:
"The market reaction ... would likely be cautious because the consumer sentiment has been so strongly negative that any potential leader is unlikely to be able to turn that around very quickly.
"So it will have to be some credible policy decisions, which are supportive of consumers and the pain consumers have been going through, and that can bring the economy out of this mess at the same time.
"That’s a tough thing to handle, you can't have a huge amount of subsidy or support for consumers and still manage to bring the economy out of those debt and fiscal issues, but to be able to strike the right balance between these two is going to be key for Wickremesinghe.
"And until we see that, markets are going to be rather cautious."
"I do think we are past the worst because we have leaders stepping in now, but also globally, there will be more aid for Sri Lanka, including the IMF stepping up their responses.
" ... And with oil prices and food prices off their highs, it is a situation where Sri Lanka might be able to meet its debt obligations with all the help it gets going forward.
"But it certainly is a big flag for those countries that are highly dependent on debt and their currencies are depreciating.
"That's something emerging markets, especially frontier markets, need to be very watchful about."
FORMER CRICKETER SANATH JAYASURIYA ON TWITTER:
"The 225 members of parliament have spoken. Best wishes to the new president. It is now up to him to deliver the change the majority of people want."
(Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal and Alasdair Pal in Colombo; Additional reporting by Anisha Sircar in Bengaluru; Compiled by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Clarence Fernandez)
