Supporters of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe pose for a picture during his final election campaign.
Colombo:
Sri Lanka, which is slowly recovering from its worst-ever economic crisis, is set to vote on its next president on Saturday. The financially struggling island nation is currently led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is seeking re-election to continue reforms aimed at helping revive the economy.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, is seeking a new term after being credited with stabilising the economy following months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.
In 2022, when Ranil Wickremesinghe took office as president, Sri Lanka was facing civil unrest over the economic crisis. Protests across the country prompted thousands of people to storm the presidential palace, which was then occupied by Mr Wickremesinghe’s predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had fled the country. Wickremesinghe took over, restored calm, helped restart the economy and made some tough decisions.
The 2024 elections are key to determining the future of reforms in this economically fragile country.
Speaking to NDTV, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said at the fifth expo that his vision for future ties with India was to push for a stronger economic relationship. “We want to encourage more Indian investment and more Indian tourists. We are working with India on infrastructure projects like the Trincomalee port,” he said.
“I came into office when the country was in complete chaos and I didn’t think we would be able to stabilize anything quickly. But I knew from my own experience that we could move forward once we had the support of the IMF and those who believed in us,” the president said. “He made sure that we would return to normalcy. Now the system is working, democracy is working, now we have stabilized the economy, now we have to decide our path. Do we continue with our old habits or do we work on (building) a strong export economy? I asked for the mandate to continue forward.”
However, Wickremesinghe faces a tough electoral battle among the candidates. In total, President Wickremesinghe is among 38 candidates competing in the Sri Lankan presidential elections.
This year's elections were dominated by two major alliances, the SJB (Samaji Jana Balawijaya) and the NPP (National People's Power), along with several smaller parties and independent candidates.
Here are the top 5 candidates for the 2024 elections in Sri Lanka:
Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, a lawyer who has served as prime minister six times. Your party will only get one seat in parliament and will need to win or get the support of two major parties to increase its chances.
As leader of the United National Party, he took office in July 2022, after widespread protests sparked by a debilitating financial crisis that forced his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to flee Sri Lanka and later resign.
Sri Lanka's parliament has elected Ranil Wickremesinghe to complete the remainder of Rajapaksa's five-year term, which he took office in 2019.
Ranil Wickremesinghe's re-election bid did not have the formal backing of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party, the party with the largest number of seats in the 225-member parliament, but support from more than 90 lawmakers was strong. He is running as an independent candidate.
He is a 57-year-old opposition leader and son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, and leads the Samaji Jana Balawijaya or SJB which broke away from Wickremesinghe's UNP in 2020.
His centrist, more left-leaning party has called for changes to the $2.9 billion bailout program like the International Monetary Fund and has laid out plans to adjust some targets, such as tax reform to lower the cost of living.
Premadasa favours a mix of interventionist and free-market economic policies.
The 55-year-old leader, who holds only three seats in parliament, is championing tough anti-corruption measures and policies to benefit the poor through a grassroots campaign for his candidacy.
He will run under the National People's Power (NPP) coalition, which includes his Marxist-leaning People's Liberation Front (PLF). His party has traditionally supported stronger state intervention and more modern market economy policies.
A pre-election poll showed Dissanayake leading the vote preferences with 36%, followed by Premadasa and Wickremesinghe in third place.
The 38-year-old leader is a scion of the powerful Rajapaksa family that has produced two presidents — his father Mahinda and his uncle Gotabaya — and Namal was a surprise entrant, running as a candidate for the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party, or SLPP, founded by another uncle, Mangeresau.
He faces the difficult task of keeping the party united to counter Wickremesinghe's chances of victory.
Nuwan Popaj, 40, is the presidential candidate for the Allianzá de Luta dos Povos ou PSA party. He hopes to capitalize on the remnants of the massive popular revolt that followed Gotabaya Rajapaksa two years ago.
Take a strong stand against corruption, support more pro-poor policies and support Sri Lanka through the IMF programme.
