President to resign during the course of the day

'The President was in contact with me on the phone and told me that the letter, in keeping with his earlier decision to resign on the 13th of July, will be sent to me officially during the course of today.  The President wanted me to make this statement, he said.

This is the Speaker's second statement for the day.

Earlier today he announced that President Rajapaksa had informed him that in view of him being overseas, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had been appointed to carry out his functions as President in keeping with the provisions in Article 37(1) of the Constitution.