COLOMBO, Sept 21 (Askume) – Millions of Sri Lankans voted on Saturday to elect a president who willHe will lead the South Asian country’s fragile economic recovery following its worst financial crisis in decades .
More than 17 million of Sri Lanka’s 22 million population are eligible to vote in the election. The election is between Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Marxist rival Sajith Premadasa President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the main opposition leader, with Dissanayake leading in a recent poll.
Citizens queued up at polling stations in the capital Colombo and security personnel were deployed as voting began at 7 am (0130 GMT). Voting was going on peacefully across the island nation, according to local media reports.
Voting closes at 4 pm (1030 GMT) and counting will begin shortly. The election commission is expected to declare the winner on Sunday.
Sri Lanka’s Election Commission chairman RML Rathnayake told Askume that more than 13,000 polling stations had been set up across the country and 250,000 public officials had been deployed to manage the election.
This is Sri Lanka’s first election in 2022 after its economy collapsed due to a severe shortage of foreign currency, leaving the Indian Ocean island unable to pay for imports of essential goods such as fuel, medicine and cooking gas.
In 2022, thousands of protesters marched in Colombo and occupied the Presidential Palace and official residence, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and later resign.
Sri Lanka’s economy has improved thanks to a $2.9 billion bailout package from the International Monetary Fund , but the high cost of living remains a major issue for many voters.
Although inflation fell to 0.5% last month from a crisis high of 70% and the economy is expected to grow for the first time in three years in 2024, millions of people remain trapped in poverty and debt, with many still struggling to make ends meet.
Whoever wins the election will have to ensure Sri Lanka continues to participate in the IMF programme until 2027 so its economy can return to a stable growth path, reassure markets, attract investors and grow a quarter of its economy, helping people escape crisis-induced poverty.
Foreign Minister Ali Sabry tweeted in support of Wickremesinghe, saying “Your decisions in today’s election will shape our country’s future not just for the next five years but for generations to come. We are committed to recovering and moving towards a sustainable and prosperous future.”
Sri Lanka’s ranked voting system allows voters to cast three priority votes for the candidates of their choice.
Analysts said that if no candidate won 50% of the vote on the first count, there would be a contest between the two leading candidates and, given the closeness of the election, preference votes would be redistributed to other candidates, a situation that is likely to occur.
