Six-time PM Ranil Wickremesinghe elected president in crisis-hit Sri Lanka

Army soldiers patrol outside the parliament building in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)

Sri Lankan legislators have chosen six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as president to succeed the ousted leader who fled the country, in a vote that risks reigniting political turmoil in the troubled South Asian island nation.

Mr Wickremesinghe said he has spent 45 years of his life in parliament and is happy it has given him the honour of becoming president.