Sri Lanka to choose President in crucial contest on September 21
The Hindu
Sri Lanka's crucial presidential election on September 21, 2024, focuses on economic recovery and relief from hardships.
Over 17 million Sri Lankans will have a chance to elect their next President on Saturday (September 21, 2024) in a crucial election, the first to be held after the island nation’s economy crashed in 2022.
A crucial election in Sri Lanka | Explained
A good turnout is expected, in line with Sri Lanka’s record of high voter participation in every national election. The last presidential poll in 2019 saw a voter turnout of 83.72 %.
A total of 38 candidates are in the fray this election, Sri Lanka’s ninth to elect the country’s Executive President. Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., across 13,421 polling centers across the island, the Election Commission of Sri Lanka said.
Departing from past presidential elections where two main candidates dominated the contest, Sri Lanka is witnessing its first three-cornered race, in which incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa, and prominent opposition legislator Anura Kumara Dissanayake — have emerged top contenders vying for the country’s most powerful office. Sri Lanka follows a preferential voting system allowing voters to mark three preferences on the ballot. A candidate must secure 50 % plus one vote to be declared winner. In the event no candidate reaches the mark, which is more likely in a three-way contest, a second count of votes will be used to pick the winner, factoring in the preferential votes received by the top two candidates.
As citizens’ economic concerns take centre stage in this election, the three main candidates have promised economic recovery and relief from hardships. They have pledged to take forward the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme that is shaping the bankrupt country’s policies to restructure its foreign debt with a diverse group of external creditors.
Sri Lankan polls: Economic concerns come to the fore
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