A man waves a Sri Lankan flag after climbing a tower near the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo, which was occupied by anti-government protesters, on July 11, 2022. (Photo by ARUN SANKAR/AFP via Getty Images)
Arun Sankar | AFP | Getty Images
Millions of Sri Lankans voted on Saturday to elect a president who will face the task of shoring up the South Asian country's fragile economic recovery after its worst financial crisis in decades.
More than 17 million of Sri Lanka's 22 million people are eligible to vote in an election that has become a battle between President Ranil Wickremesinghe and main opposition leader Sajith Premadasa. Premadasa and Marxist-leaning challenger Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who led in the most recent election.
Citizens in the capital, Colombo, lined up early at polling stations guarded by security personnel, with voting starting at 7 a.m. (0130 GMT). According to local media reports, events across the island nation are proceeding peacefully.
Voting ended at 4 pm (1030 GMT) and counting was due to begin shortly thereafter. The electoral commission is expected to announce the winner on Sunday.
RML Rathnayake, chairman of Sri Lanka's Election Commission, told Reuters that more than 13,000 polling stations were set up across the country and 250,000 public officials were deployed to manage the elections.
This is the first election since 2022 when Sri Lanka's economy struggled due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange, leaving the Indian Ocean island unable to pay for the import of essential goods such as fuel, medicine and cooking gas.
In 2022, thousands of protesters marched in Colombo and occupied the presidential office and official residence, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee and subsequently resign.
Sri Lanka's economy has shown an initial recovery, supported by the International Monetary Fund's $2.9 billion rescue plan, but the high cost of living remains a core 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 and many will be better off. Hopes for the future rest on the economy.
Whoever wins the election must ensure that Sri Lanka sticks to the International Monetary Fund's plan until 2027 to put its economy on a stable growth path, reassure markets, attract investors and help lift a quarter of its people out of crisis-induced poverty .
“Your decision at the polls today will shape the future of our country, not just for the next five years but for generations to come,” Foreign Minister Ali Sabri tweeted in support of Wickremesinghe. “Use your vote wisely so that Sri Lanka can continue to recover and move towards a sustainable and prosperous future.”
Sri Lanka's ranked voting system allows voters to cast three priority votes for candidates of their choice.
If no candidate wins 50% in the first count, there will be a second round of voting between the two front-runners and the priority votes for the other candidates will be redistributed, analysts said, given the closeness of the election. This may well be the case.