Near the seaside protest camp where Sri Lankans last week celebrated chasing their president into exile, a sullen crowd reacted to the vote for his replacement with disappointment -- but not surprise. Around 200 people gathered under a sweltering morning sun to watch the contest outside the presidential secretariat in Colombo, one of several government buildings dramatically stormed by the public earlier this month. Some sat on the front steps of the sandstone building closed their eyes and clasped their hands in prayer as the ballot stretched into its second hour. But shortly after noon, word quickly spread among the thinning crowd that parliament had elected Ranil Wickremesinghe -- a man now feared to be preparing a crackdown on their movement.

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