Colombo - (Xinhua) - Sri Lankan Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Friday announced the official resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as Sri Lankan President, and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will be sworn in as acting president.

In a press conference, the Speaker of Parliament said that he had received the President's letter of resignation, and since then the President has legally resigned from his legal duties and responsibilities.

"Under these circumstances, the constitutional procedure for appointing a new president will now be activated. Until this constitutional procedure ends, in accordance with the constitution, the prime minister will exercise his duties as president and oversee the functions, duties and powers of the office of the president," the parliament speaker stated.

The speaker added that the parliament will convene on July 16, and asked all deputies to attend the parliament sessions on that day.

He called on all party leaders, state officials and security forces to show maximum cooperation for the democratic process of electing a new President and Government, and made a special appeal to the people of Sri Lanka to create a peaceful environment that allows all legislators to attend parliament freely.

In this environment, with the help of all the officials, the Speaker said he intended to complete the process of electing a new Speaker within a short period of seven days.

Sri Lanka has been experiencing severe economic turmoil for months, leading to shortages of basic supplies such as food, petrol and fuel.