Amitha Reji George, Pune
The Presidential elections began in Sri Lanka on Saturday morning, September 21. 38 candidates contested for presidential election in 2024, making it the first election to be held following the financial crisis of 2024.
The current president, Ranil Wickremesinghe is running against Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party and Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Wickremesinghe succeeded Rajapaksa and has been faced with the challenge of restoring Sri Lanka’s economy.
Nearly 70 percent of voters cast votes in an hour before polls closed at 4:00 p.m.
In preparation for a long night of counting, which started at 6 p.m., ballot counting officers in white dress were observed coming into counting centers. By Sunday noon, the results should be announced.
Around 63,000 police officers were sent in to protect voters in the election, conducted by 2 lakh officials. Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the Marxist leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is Leading the alliance National People’s Power and is the strongest candidate. He is also regarded as the spokesperson for the “system change” that the uprising of 2022 called for.
As an independent candidate, current President Ranil Wickremesinghe stands for stability after guiding the nation towards economic reform and arranging a rescue deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The leader of the opposition is Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya. Following his narrow defeat in the 2019 presidential contest, he declined to lead the government in 2022 due to moral objections, which allowed Wickremesinghe to win the position.
The 2025 parliamentary elections were scheduled to take place after the presidential election. It will be a difficult time for the president chosen by the people. Keeping the country on its path to economic recovery will be his main responsibilities, along with supervising regional geopolitical tensions, implementing the system change that the people demanded in 2022, and overseeing the IMF’s 2023 rescue package.
According to the official data from the AFP news agency, the nation owes 46 billion dollars in foreign debt. Also, Sri Lanka’s poverty rate escalated to 25% between 2021 and 2022.