The majority of Sri Lanka's government ministers submitted their resignations on Monday amid large-scale anti-government protests against rising prices.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, are the only members of the government who did not submit their resignations after an all-night crisis meeting.
The president only named four new ministers on Monday, leaving 26 vacancies. He has invited opposition members to accept ministerial positions, but they have declined and demanded fresh elections.
One of the new designees was Finance Minister Ali Sabry, who replaced the president's brother, Basil Rajapakasa, who has been partly blamed for the current financial crisis in the country, which has resulted in shortages of essential food, fuel and gas.
Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa, another presidential relative, also stepped down. The powerful Rajapaksa family has long dominated Sri Lanka's politics.
Despite a curfew on Sunday, more than 20,000 people protested across the country against rising prices and power outages. That built on many smaller protests in recent weeks
Fuel shortages are a key cause of the protests. But food prices have also risen sharply. The country is heavily in debt and urgently needs dollars to import fuel, gas, food and medicine from abroad.
Sri Lanka has asked India and China for help procuring food and fuel and has also requested financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund.
During the protests, demonstrators also demanded the resignation of the president and his government, saying they had failed to solve the crisis. Protesters demanded fresh elections.
The curfew was lifted on Monday and protests are expected across the country. One was already underway at Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s ancestral home in Tangalle.
