Kumar Bahukhandi
Colombo: Sri Lanka is voting for its next president to day on Saturday September 21 .This election has turned into a referendum on the unpopular austerity plan of the International Monetary Fund implemented after a severe financial crisis in the country. President Ranil Wickremesinghe is facing competition from two strong candidates for a new mandate.
“We must continue reforms to end bankruptcy,” Wickremesinghe, 75, said at his final rally in Colombo this week. “Decide whether you want to go back to the era of terror or the era of progress,” he added. But Wickremesinghe’s tax hikes and other measures have left millions in dire straits.
Sri Lanka’s crisis has proved an opportunity for presidential candidate Dissanayaka, 55, who is seeking support on his pledge to change the island’s “corrupt” political culture.
More than 17 million people are eligible to vote in the election. More than 63,000 police have been deployed to protect polling stations and vote-counting centers.
Economic issues have dominated the eight-week campaign, driven by widespread frustration at the hardships people have suffered since the crisis peaked two years ago. Official data indicate Sri Lanka’s poverty rate is set to double to 25 percent between 2021 and 2022, adding more than 2.5 million people to the number of people living on less than $3.65 a day.
Although a record 38 candidates are on the ballot, the election is being fought between three major contenders: incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a leftist politician backed by protesters who led a political uprising in 2022.
At stake is the fate of a $3 billion IMF loan program, with both Premadasa and Dissanayake vowing to renegotiate loan terms to ease the burden on the poor. While Wickremesinghe helped broker an IMF bailout and stabilize the economy, the austerity measures and higher taxes that followed have made him extremely unpopular among voters.
Voting will close at 4:00 pm, and counting will begin on Saturday September 21 late evening. Though results are expected on Sunday September 22 , the official announcement could be delayed if the contest remains close. Schools were closed on Friday September 20 to serve as polling stations, with more than 200,000 public servants employed to facilitate the election.
