Sri Lanka, grappling with a severe financial crisis, went to the polls on Saturday to elect its next president. The election has become a critical referendum on the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) unpopular austerity plan, implemented to stabilize the country’s shattered economy.
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe faces an uphill battle for re-election as he seeks a mandate to continue the belt-tightening measures that have brought some stability to the economy, alleviating months of shortages in essential goods like food, fuel, and medicine.
“We must continue with reforms to end bankruptcy,” Wickremesinghe, 75, declared at his final campaign rally in Colombo this week, adding, “Decide if you want to go back to the period of terror or progress,” as reported by AFP.
Wickremesinghe’s tax increases and other austerity measures, part of a $2.9 billion IMF bailout, have left many Sri Lankans struggling to make ends meet. The economic crisis has significantly impacted the lives of ordinary citizens, with official data indicating that the poverty rate doubled to 25 percent between 2021 and 2022, pushing over 2.5 million people into living on less than $3.65 a day.
This widespread economic hardship has fueled a surge of support for Anura Kumara Dissanayake, a 55-year-old leftist politician backed by protesters who led the political uprisings in 2022. Dissanayake’s platform centers on a promise to change the country’s “corrupt” political culture and renegotiate the terms of the IMF loan to ease the burden on the poor.
The election has become a tight race between three leading candidates: Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and Dissanayake. While Wickremesinghe emphasizes the need for policy stability to support economic recovery, Premadasa, the son of a former president assassinated in 1993, focuses on boosting exports to stimulate growth and combat corruption.
Premadasa, who heads a political party that broke away from Wickremesinghe’s in 2020, garners support primarily from poorer Sri Lankans and the Tamil minority.
Dissanayake, leading the National People’s Power, a coalition of leftist parties, has promised to address corruption and reopen negotiations with the IMF. Some members of his party oppose the debt restructuring agreement with the IMF.
With over 17 million people eligible to vote, the election has drawn significant attention, with more than 63,000 police deployed to secure polling booths and counting centers. Schools were closed on Friday to serve as polling stations, staffed by over 200,000 public servants assigned to facilitate the election.
Polls closed at 4:00 PM (10:30 GMT) on Saturday, with counting scheduled to begin in the evening. While results are anticipated on Sunday, an official announcement may be delayed if the contest is close. The outcome of this election will have a significant impact on Sri Lanka’s future, determining the path forward for economic recovery and the fate of the IMF lending program.
