Debt (Page 43)

Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Sri Lanka’s new leader, sworn in as president and promises” clean” politics as the nation returns from its worst economic crises.

The left-leaning Dissanayake has portrayed himself as a industry of the status quo, and economists see his success as a rejection of corruption and cronyism that has plagued the nation for a long time.

The vote on Saturday marked the second since 2022, when widespread protests and the removal of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from electricity erupted.

” We need to create a new fresh social lifestyle”, he said. ” I commit to achieving this. We will do everything in our power to regain the trust and respect of the electorate.

The 55-year-old, who is familiarly known as AKD, told Sri Lankans that “democracy does n’t end with voting in a leader”.

” We need to develop democracy. I vow to accomplish my utmost to prevent democracy”, he said.

I’ve already stated that I’m a regular person, not a sorcerer. There are things I know and do n’t know. My goal is to collect people who have the knowledge and abilities to improve this nation.

At the conclusion of his discourse, Dissanayake received a Buddhist gift. Representatives of Sri Lanka’s another major religions- Islam, Hinduism and Christianity- were likewise present during the oath-taking, highlighting the fresh president’s emphasis on diversity.

In a speech on the day of the meeting, Dissanayake said the “unity of Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims and all Sri Lankans is the core of this innovative beginning”.

During the battle, Dissanayake promised citizens good leadership and strong anti-corruption measures.

He has promised to build Sri Lanka’s production, agriculture and IT industries. He has also pledged to carry out the agreement with the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) to help Sri Lanka escape the economic crisis while minimizing the impact of its austerity measures on the nation’s poorest.

Before Dissanayake was sworn in, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena resigned, thereby facilitating the dissolution of parliament.

Dissanayake indicated in an earlier interview with BBC Sinhala that he would break parliament shortly after winning the election.

There is no point in continuing to have a parliament that does n’t conform to what the people want, he declared at the time.

No applicant was able to secure more than 50 % of the full vote in the first round, so Dissanayake prevailed. The counting slowed down to a second round on Sunday.

After the second and third-choice votes for president had been tallied, the Election Commission said Dissanayake had won with a full of 5, 740, 179 vote.

Sajith Premadasa, the leader of the opposition, placed following with 4, 530, and 902. Ranil Wickremesinghe, the incoming leader, received 2, 299, and 767 during the initial round of calculating, but he was exempt from the following round.

Wickremesinghe congratulated his son, saying:” With many love and respect for this beloved country, I give over its coming to the new leader”.

Until this week’s voting, all of Sri Lanka’s eight national elections since 1982 had seen the success emerge during the first round of calculating. This ballot has been described as one of the closest in the country’s history.

The anti-corruption program of Dissanayake’s anti-corruption system was well received by voters who have clamoured for sweeping reform since the crisis.

This gave him a chance to get over his political party’s violent past, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ( JVP), which carried out two armed uprisings against the Sri Lankan state in the 1970s and 1980s.

Dissanayake’s ally, the National People’s Power – of which the JVP is a part – rose to prominence during the 2022 demonstrations, known as the Aragalaya – Sinhala for battle.

In addition, Dissanayake has attempted to lower the party’s hard-left stance in recent years.

The new president of the nation will have to rescue millions from devastating hunger and revive the economy simultaneously.

The Aragalaya revolt that removed Rajapaksa from the national palace in 2022 was fueled by an financial panic.

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves at the time were exhausted, making it unable to buy essential goods like gas. Public debt reached$ 83 billion, and inflation reached a record high of 70 %.

This made basic necessities like food and healthcare costly for the average person.

The country’s financial sorrow has been blamed on key policy issues, weak exports and decades of under-taxation. This was exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, which choked tourism, a vital financial vehicle.

Many individuals have also blamed corruption and incompetence, but, stoking fury against Rajapaksa and his family, who collectively ruled Sri Lanka for more than 10 years.

” The most significant concern is how to restore this economy”, Dr Athulasiri Samarakoon, a social scientist at the Open University of Sri Lanka, told the BBC Sinhala Service.

During his term Wickremesinghe secured a $2.9bn lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is crucial to opening additional funding channels but comes with strict economic and governance policy reforms.

According to the IMF’s instructions, Sri Lanka is changing the terms of its loan obligations to domestic and international creditors. The main focus has been the country’s$ 36bn worth of foreign debt, of which$ 7bn is owed to China, its largest bilateral creditor.

Like Dissanayake, Premadasa even pushed for IT growth, as well as the creation of 25 new business districts. He claimed that tourism should be promoted to make it the best foreign currency worker in the nation.

Wickremesinghe promised to increase tourist arrivals, create a national wealth fund, and create new economic zones to promote economic growth during the campaign.

More monitoring by BBC Sinhala

After winning the first vote in the debt-ridden nation since its economy collapsed in 2022, left-leaning legislator Anura Kumara Dissanayake was elected as Sri Lanka’s next leader.

The 55-year-old beat off his nearest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, to emerge as the clear winner after a historic second round of counting, which included second-preference votes. Outgoing president Ranil Wikremesinghe trailed in third.

It’s a remarkable turn for a person who won only 3 % of the vote in the 2019 vote. Dissanayake, who contested as candidate for the National People’s Power ( NPP ) alliance, has drawn increasing support in recent years for his anti-corruption platform and pro-poor policies – particularly in the wake of the country’s worst ever economic crisis, which is still having an impact on millions.

He will now be in charge of a struggling country that is trying to get out of the ghost of that issue and whose people are desperate for change.

So who is president-elect Anura Kumara Dissanayake?

Dissanayake was born on 24 November, 1968 in Galewela, a multi-cultural and multi-religious area in central Sri Lanka.

Raised as a member of the middle-class, he is open college educated, has a degree in physics, and second entered politics as a learner around the day when the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was signed in 1987: an occasion that may lead to one of Sri Lanka’s bloodiest times.

An armed revolt against the Sri Lankan government was spearheaded by the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna ( JVP), a Marxist political party with which Dissanayake would later become intimately associated, between 1987 and 1989.

A fight characterized by attacks, assassinations, and attacks on both political opponents and civilians that claimed thousands of lives was the result of the insurrectionist campaign, which was spurred by children from the remote lower and middle classes.

Dissanayake, who was elected to the JVP’s key committee in 1997 and became its head in 2008, has since apologised for the team’s murder during this so-called” winter of terror”.

In a 2014 interview with the BBC, he stated that” a lot of things happened during the armed conflict that should n’t have happened.”

” We are still shocked, and shocked that things happened at our hands that should n’t have. We are constantly profoundly shocked and saddened by that.

The JVP, which now has only three seats in parliament, is part of the NPP alliance that Dissanayake then heads.

While fighting for the national election, Dissanayake addressed another harsh moment in Sri Lanka’s new story: the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

At least 290 people were killed and hundreds of others were hurt in what quickly turned out to be the worst attack in Sri Lanka’s record on April 21, 2019, when a series of dangerous storms tore through churches and international resorts across the investment Colombo.

Five years later, but, investigations into how the co-ordinated problems happened, and the security problems that led to them, have failed to deliver answers.

Some have accused the previous government, led by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, of affecting studies.

Dissanayake promised to conduct an investigation into the matter if elected, suggesting that officials had avoided doing so because they feared revealing” their personal duty” in a recent discussion with BBC Sinhala.

It’s just one of several unfulfilled claims from Sri Lanka’s political aristocracy, he added.

” It’s not just this analysis”, he said. Politicians who said they would cease corruption have actually engaged in it, while those who said they would make a debt-free Sri Lanka have just increased the burden have just increased. Those who said they would strengthen the law have also done so.

This is precisely why the people of this nation demand a unique style of government. We are the ones who may offer it.

In the run-up to Saturday’s election, Dissanayake was seen as a strong prospect who could alter the country’s lingering feelings.

In 2022, a large number of demonstrations sparked by the financial collapse led to the ex-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa being forced out of Sri Lanka.

Decades of under-taxation, poor exports and big policy problems, combined with the Covid-19 crisis, dried up the government’s foreign exchange reserves. Public debt exceeded$ 83 billion, and prices shot up to a 70 % rate.

The issue was brought on by Rajapaksa and his administration. And though his leader, President Wickremesinghe, introduced economic changes that brought down prices and strengthened the Sri Lankan dollar, people continue to feel the squeeze.

In a deeper sense, a new kind of political leadership was needed in the wake of the 2022 financial crisis and the circumstances surrounding it, including widespread corruption and political impunity. Dissanayake has made the most of that requirement.

He has portrayed himself as a possible industry of a standing status that, according to reviewers, has long fostered corruption and cronyism among the social elite.

In a recent interview with BBC Sinhala, Dissanayake suggested that he would dissolve parliament within weeks of being elected in order to have a clean slate and a new mission for his plans.

There is no point in continuing to have a parliament that does n’t conform to the people’s demands, he said.

Among Dissanayake’s plan pledges are strong anti-corruption steps, bigger welfare schemes and a guarantee to slash fees.

As part of austerity measures intended to reshape the nation’s economy, the current government imposed tax increases and security cuts, which likewise left many people able to make ends meet.

In an election where experts predicted economic concerns may be top of mind, Dissanayake’s promises to rein in those actions appears to have sparked a wave of support among voters.

” The region’s soaring prices, skyrocketing cost-of-living and hardship have left the public eager for solutions to stabilise prices and increase livelihoods,” Soumya Bhowmick, an associate brother at India-based think container the Observer Research Foundation, told the BBC before the vote.

This vote is critical for shaping Sri Lanka’s recuperation path and restoring both domestic and international trust in its management as the nation struggles to recover from its economic collapse.

Some bystanders, including traders and market members, expressed concern that Dissanayake’s monetary policies could have an effect on fiscal goals and destroy Sri Lanka’s road to recovery.

But, the presidential candidate moderated his speech choices and vowed to make sure Sri Lanka’s debt was paid back.

He added that any modifications may be made in consultation with the IMF, which has served as a support for the nation’s still-fragile business.

Some analysts think the second president’s primary task is building a steady economy.

The most important issue is how to restore this economy, including managing public consumption and increasing public income generation, according to Athulasiri Samarakoon, senior lecturer in social science and international studies at the Open University of Sri Lanka.

Any future governments will need to collaborate with the International Monetary Fund, he declared.

About 76 % of Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million electorate turned out to vote in Saturday’s election, according to officials.

By Sunday morning, Dissanayake’s two main rivals, incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, had already received congratulations messages from them.

Early results clearly indicated a Dissanayake victory, according to Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, according to Sabry on X.

” Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Sabry said.

MP Harsha de Silva, who supported Premadasa, said he had called Dissanayake to offer his congratulations.

We worked hard for @sajithpremadasa, but it turned out not to be. It is now clear @anuradisanayake will be the new President of# SriLanka,” said de Silva, who represents Colombo in parliament.

Another Premadasa supporter, Tamil National Alliance ( TNA ) spokesman MA Sumanthiran, said Dissanayake delivered an” impressive win “without relying on” racial or religious chauvinism”.

Additional reporting from BBC Sinhala

After a traditional second round of counting, left-leaning politician Anura Kumara Dissanayake has won Sri Lanka’s national poll.

No candidate won more than 50 % of the total votes in the first round, where Dissanayake got 42.31 % while his closest rival, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, got 32.76 %.

But Dissanayake, who promised citizens good governance and strong anti-corruption steps, emerged as success after the second matter, which tallied electors ‘ second and third choice candidates.

The election on Saturday was the first to be held since mass protests unseated the country’s leader, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in 2022 after Sri Lanka suffered its worst economic crisis.

To revitalize the business, Dissanayake, 55, has promised to build the manufacturing, crops and IT industries. He has also pledged to carry out the IMF’s bailout agreement while limiting the effects of Sri Lanka’s austerity measures on the poorest of the nation.

Until this week’s voting, all of Sri Lanka’s eight national elections since 1982 have seen the success emerge during the first round of calculating. This surveys has been described as one of the closest in the country’s history.

The Sri Lankan elections commission described the election as the most relaxing in the country’s past, with 17 million people eligible to vote on Saturday.

However, police announced a curfew later Saturday evening citing “public security. It was lifted at noon local time ( 06: 30 GMT ).

Dissanayake’s message to voters, who had long been calling for systemic change, was strong anti-corruption measures and good governance. It was powerful in the eyes of the electorate.

In the 1970s and 1980s, his political party, the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ( JVP), which carried out two armed uprisings against the Sri Lankan state, was in control of his situation.

His ally, the National People’s Party – of which the JVP is a piece – rose to prominence during the 2022 demonstrations, known as the aragalaya – Sinhala for battle.

In recent years, he has even attempted to lower his party’s hard-left position.

Early findings showed him taking the lead, which prompted many well-known figures, including the nation’s foreign minister, to applaud him.

However, as voting continued, he lost some earth to Premadasa, which necessitated the next round of counting.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the former president, received 17 % of the vote, putting him in fourth place in the polls. He was eliminated from the minute matter, which was only between the two finalists.

The new president of the nation will have to rescue millions from devastating hunger and revive the economy simultaneously.

The” Aragalaya” ( struggle ) uprising that removed Rajapaksa from the presidential palace in 2022 was fueled by an economic meltdown.

Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves at the time were running out, making it unable to import essentials like gasoline. Public debt increased to$ 83 billion while inflation increased to 70 %.

Basic items like food and healthcare could not be afforded by regular people because of this.

The country’s financial sorrow has been blamed on key policy mistakes, weak exports and decades of under-taxation. This was exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis, which choked tourism, a vital financial vehicle.

However, some people even attribute corruption and mismanagement to Rajapaksa and his family, who have ruled Sri Lanka for more than ten years.

” The most critical issue is how to restore this business,” said Dr Athulasiri Samarakoon, a social scientist at the Open University of Sri Lanka, told the BBC Sinhala Service.

During his term, Wickremesinghe had secured a $2.9bn lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is crucial to opening additional funding channels, but comes with strict economic and governance policy reforms.

Sri Lanka is changing the terms of its debts obligations to domestic and international creditors in accordance with the IMF’s recommendations. The main focus has been the country’s$ 36bn in foreign debt, of which$ 7bn is owed to China, its largest bilateral creditor.

Like Dissanayake, Premadasa has even pushed for IT as well as the creation of 25 innovative business areas. He argued that commerce should be promoted to become the nation’s leading foreign currency producer.

During the campaign, Wickremesinghe promised to increase tourist arrivals, create a national prosperity fund, as well as create new economic zones to promote growth.

More reporting by BBC Sinhala

Under normal conditions, the success of Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Sri Lanka’s presidential poll would have been called a social disaster.

However, some people in Sri Lanka had predicted the left-leaning lawmaker as a powerful pioneer in the lead-up to the election.

The 55-year-old Dissanayake heads the National People’s Power ( NPP ) alliance, which includes his Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ( JVP), or People’s Liberation Front- a party that has traditionally backed strong state intervention and lower taxes, and campaigned for leftist economic policies.

With his victory, the area will have for the first time a government led by a head with a pro-left-leaning agenda.

” It’s a vote for a change”, Harini Amarasuriya, a senior NPP leader and MP, told the BBC.

The outcome is” confirming what we have been campaigning for,” according to the report.

The government is expected to break the parliament immediately and hold parliamentary elections.

But, putting his coalition policies into practice in a nation that has been embracing liberalization and free-market guidelines since the late 1970s will be difficult for him.

The NPP’s resounding victory came after the country’s public outraged over the country’s damaging economic crisis in 2022, when inflation reached a halt and foreign reserves were emptied.

The nation declared bankruptcy and was unable to pay for the goods of food, gas, and medications.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then president, was forced to flee the country in July 2022 by an extraordinary public revolt against the administration’s handling of the market.

Two months earlier, his elder brother and veteran leader Mahinda had been forced to resign as prime minister during the initial phase of the protest, known as “aragalaya” ( struggle ) in Sinhala.

With the support of the Rajapaksas ‘ group, Ranil Wickremesinghe assumed office as president. He stabilized the economy and negotiated a$ 2.9 billion bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund ( IMF).

The social change was essentially a transfer of power between formed parties and social empires, according to the millions of Sri Lankans who took to the streets.

Due to the perception that many people in the country thought of him as a person who lacked the ancient order, the NPP and Dissanayake capitalized on this attitude.

Although he served briefly as a secretary when Chandrika Kumaratunga became a coalition government in the early 2000s, Dissanayake’s supporters claim that he is innocent of fraud or cronyism allegations.

The question is how his administration will handle Sri Lanka’s large financial problems.

He pledged to reduce fees and energy costs during his campaign. That results in lower government revenues, which may conflict with some of the requirements set by the IMF product.

” We will work within the broad agreement that the IMF has reached within the existing state,” Amarasuriya from the NPP said. ” But we will discuss certain information, particularly regarding the poverty measures”.

The vote win is a remarkable turn for Dissanayake, who received simply over 3 % of seats in the 2019 national poll.

However, he may have persuaded a sizable portion of voters this day, but there are concerns about Dissanayake’s and his JVP’s political ideology, which is renowned for the uprisings that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in the late 1980s.

In what would become known as the” winter of terror,” the JVP spearheaded an armed rebellion against the Sri Lankan government starting in 1987.

A fight characterized by attacks, executions, and strikes on both political opponents and citizens was the result of the insurrectionist campaign, which was spurred by anger among the children of the remote lower and middle classes.

Dissanayake, who was elected to the JVP’s key committee in 1997 and became its head in 2008, has since apologised for the group’s crime. However, his win in the polls raises questions about the potential impact of the JVP on Sri Lankan politics going forward.

” The JVP has a history of violence and there are concerns about the party’s position in a new government”, said Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher with the Centre for Policy Alternatives ( CPA ) in Colombo.

” I believe that Mr. Dissanayake has softened the dramatic communication in his public speaking. My problem is, while he may possess softened, what about the old guard of the JVP? Where do they reposition themselves in a new govt”?

Reaching out to the Tamil majority in the nation will be another problem for Dissanayake. They have been campaigning for peace and independence of powers since the finish of a civil war in May 2009.

That issue, between the Tamil Tiger separatists and the Sri Lankan position, erupted in 1983. In their struggle for independence in the island’s north and east, the Tigers later won control of sizable portions of the island, but a military offensive in 2009 almost wiped out their allies.

Fifteen years later, the Sri Lankan president’s claims to promote energy and descend their own social power in Tamil-majority regions have mostly failed to materialise.

Peoples did not vote for Dissanayake increasingly, which shows concern over the NPP’s attitude toward their political needs, despite the NPP’s increase in the north and the east.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner’s company in Geneva has urged the new state to seek an inclusive national perspective for Sri Lanka that addresses the underlying causes of the tribal conflict.

In its most recent report, the government” may undertake the important legal and institutional reforms necessary to enhance democracy and the devolution of democratic authority and to improve accountability and reconciliation.”

It’s not just about home plans, sometimes. India and China, which are battling for dominance in Sri Lanka, are closely monitoring the fall of the NPP and JVP. Both companies have given billions of dollars to Colombo.

Dissanayake, with his Communist affiliations, is seen as philosophically closer to China. In the past, the JVP had criticized India’s plan toward Sri Lanka and opposed what it termed American expansionism.

In addition, Dissanayake made a pledge in his campaign statement that the North would be defunded by businessman Gautam Adani, who is alleged to be shut to Prime Minister Modi.

” The Adani site’s prices should decrease, given its massive level, but it’s the opposite”, Dissanayake said last year. This is undoubtedly a fraudulent transaction, and we will undoubtedly void it.

In any case, some regular Sri Lankans who have voted for change have higher aspirations.

” Whoever comes to electricity, they may lower the prices of food, fuel and electricity. They also need to improve income”, said Colombo native Sisira Padmasiri. The new chairman ought to offer some immediate relief to the public.

According to experts, Sri Lanka will need to create more difficult poverty selections to balance the books and join its debt obligations.

Again he assumes power, Dissanayake will see how much he can actually live up to the expectations of the people.

In the first vote since the country’s worst economic crisis, which led to widespread protests, the country’s head was ousted in 2022, the country will appoint a new president.

The vote on Saturday is widely regarded as a vote on economic reforms that will set the nation on the path to healing.

However, due to tax increases, lower grants, and lower security standards, many people are also struggling to make ends meet.

In what is shaping up to be a close contest, many experts predict that financial problems will be top of the minds of citizens.

” The region’s soaring inflation, skyrocketing cost-of-living and hardship have left the public eager for alternatives to stabilise costs and increase livelihoods”, Soumya Bhowmick, an interact fellow at India-based think tank the Observer Research Foundation, told the BBC.

This vote serves as a critical time for shaping Sri Lanka’s healing path and restoring both domestic and international trust in its management, according to the country’s attempt to recover from its economic collapse.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was charged with the huge process of leading Sri Lanka out of its economic decline, is seeking another word.

The 75-year-old was appointed by congress a fortnight after Gotabaya Rajapaksa was pushed out of office.

What little of the opposition action was left after Wickremesinghe took office was completely destroyed. He has also been accused of preventing the Rajapaksa community from being prosecuted and allowing them to recover, claims he has refuted.

Leftist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake, whose anti-corruption program has gained him more and more people support, is another strong candidate.

More candidates are running in Saturday’s vote than any other in Sri Lanka’s story. But of more than three hundred, four are dominating the fame.

Different than Wickremesinghe and Dissanayake, there is also the leader of the opposition, Sajith Premadasa, and the 38-year-old brother of the ousted president, Namal Rajapaksa.

Counting begins once polls close at 16: 00 local time ( 10: 30 GMT ), but results are not expected to become clear until Sunday morning.

The” Aragalaya” ( struggle ) uprising that deposed former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was sparked by an economic meltdown.

Decades of under-taxation, weak exports and big policy problems, combined with the Covid-19 crisis dried up the government’s foreign exchange reserves. Public debt exceeded$ 83 billion, and inflation exceeded 70 %.

While the country’s social and political elites were largely shielded from the aftermath, basic necessities like food, cooking oil, and remedies became indisputable for regular people, leading to resentment and unrest.

Then-president Rajapaksa and his government were blamed for the problems, leading to months-long rallies calling for his departure.

On July 13th, 2022, in spectacular views that were broadcast around the world, people jumped into the swimming pool and ransack the house.

The time government of President Wickremesinghe imposed strict austerity measures to save the business in the midst of Rajapaksa’s journey from the nation- an captivity that lasted for 50 days.

Even though the economic reforms have safely lowered prices and strengthened the Sri Lankan dollar, regular Sri Lankans still experience the squeeze.

” Jobs are the hardest item to find”, says 32-year-old Yeshan Jayalath. ” Even with an accounting degree, I ca n’t find a permanent job”. Otherwise, he has been doing momentary or part-time work.

Many smaller companies across the nation are also still suffering from the issue.

Norbet Fernando, who was forced to close his roof tile manufacturer northwest of Colombo in 2022, claimed that natural materials like clay, wood, and oil are three times more expensive than they were two years ago. He continued,” Very few individuals are purchasing ceiling tiles or building houses.”

” After 35 years, it hurts to see my shop in remains”, Fernando told the BBC, adding that of the 800 stone companies in the area, just 42 have remained useful since 2022.

Sad demand is predicted by central banks data on business sentiments in 2022 and 2023, and even though the situation is improving in 2024, it is still not at pre-crisis amounts.

” The Sri Lankan business properly for now have been put back on its feet, but many people still need to be convinced the cost is worth paying”, Alan Keenan, the International Crisis Group’s ( ICG) senior advisor on Sri Lanka, told the BBC.

Ranil Wickremesinghe: Having previously lost twice at the presidential polls, Saturday marks his third chance to be elected by the Sri Lankan people, rather than parliament

Anura Kumara Dissanayake: The candidate of the leftist National People’s Party alliance promises tough anti-corruption measures and good governance

Sajith Premadasa: The opposition leader is representing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party – his father served as the second executive president of Sri Lanka before he was assassinated in 1993

Namal Rajapaksa: The son of Mahinda Rajapaksa, who led the country between 2005 and 2015, he hails from a powerful political lineage, but will need to win over voters who blame his family for the economic crisis

Voters in Sri Lanka select a single winner by placing three candidates in order of preference.

If a candidate receives an absolute majority, they will be declared the winner. If not, a second round of counting will commence, with second and third-choice votes then taken into account.

Because single candidates have always won decisively based on first-preference votes, no election in Sri Lanka has ever advanced to the second round of counting.

This year could be different.

” Opinion polls and initial campaigning suggest the vote is likely, for the first time ever, to produce a winner who fails to gain a majority of votes”, said Mr Keenan, of ICG.

Candidates, party leaders, and election officials should be prepared to resolve any potential conflicts in accordance with established procedures and with calm.