Sri Lanka Polls: Frontrunners, What's At Stake, Implications For India
NDTV
This year's election in Sri Lanka is dominated by two major alliances, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya and the National People's Power.
The political landscape in Sri Lanka is set to change as its citizens elect a new President on Saturday. Sri Lanka's 17 million voters will choose from among 39 candidates in the country's first election after the people's uprising of 2022, which led to then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's ouster.
This year's election is dominated by two major alliances, the SJB (Samagi Jana Balawegaya) and the NPP (National People's Power), apart from various smaller parties and independent candidates.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe of the UNP (United National Party) is contesting as an independent. Wickremesinghe, popularly known as RW, is being supported by many rebel legislators of the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) headed by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Also in the contest are opposition leader Sajith Premadasa from the SJB alliance; leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) - the presidential candidate of NPP - and Mahinda's son, Namal Rajapaksa, as the SLPP candidate.
