Leader and the presidential candidate of National People's Power Anura Kumara Dissanayake arrives at a polling station to cast his vote in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2024.(AP)
Dissanayake, whose campaign in favour of the working class and against the political elite made him popular among the youth, is leading with 39% of the votes, while opposition leader Sajith Premadasa is second with 34%, data released by the Election Commission showed.
The election on Saturday is crucial as the country tries to recover from the worst economic crisis in its history and the resulting political turmoil. The election was a three-cornered contest between Dissanayake, Wickremesinghe and Premadasa, with 38 candidates.
No candidate secured more than 50% of the vote.
Sri Lanka’s electoral system allows voters to select up to three candidates on their ballots in the order of their preference. If no candidate secures a majority, the top two will be retained and the ballots of the eliminated candidates will be checked for preferences given to either of the top two candidates, and those votes will be added to their respective tallies. The candidate with the most votes will then be declared the winner.
Are voters tired of old leaders?
It was a strong showing for Dissanayake, who won just over 3% of the vote in the last presidential election in 2019, and shows that voters are tired of old political leaders who have been accused of pushing Sri Lanka into economic instability.
Wickremesinghe’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry congratulated Dissanayake on the social platform X and said he hoped he would “lead with transparency, integrity and commitment to the country’s long-term well-being.”
“I wish Mr. Dissanayake and his team success in their efforts to take Sri Lanka forward,” Sabry said.
Premadasa has not conceded defeat.
The election was a virtual referendum on the fragile recovery under Wickremesinghe’s leadership, including the restructuring of Sri Lanka’s debt under an International Monetary Fund bailout program after a default in 2022.
Dissanayake, 55, leads the leftist coalition National People’s Power, a coalition of civil society groups, professionals, Buddhist clergy and students.
Police said there were no major incidents during the vote, but authorities declared a nationwide curfew until Sunday afternoon as a precaution.
There were 17 million eligible voters and final results are expected on Sunday evening.
The government announced on Thursday that it had crossed the final hurdle in debt restructuring by reaching an agreement in principle with private bond holders.
At the time of its default, Sri Lanka’s local and foreign debt totaled $83 billion. The government says it has now restructured more than $17 billion.
Despite a significant improvement in key economic data, Sri Lankans continue to grapple with high taxes and the cost of living.
Both Premadasa and Dissanayake say they will renegotiate the IMF deal to make austerity measures more bearable. Wickremesinghe has warned that any move to change the basics of the agreement could delay the release of the fourth tranche of about $3 billion, crucial to maintaining stability.
Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was caused mainly by excessive borrowing on projects that did not generate revenue. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government’s insistence on using scarce foreign reserves to prop up the currency, the rupee, contributed to the downturn in the economy.
The economic collapse led to severe shortages of essential commodities such as medicine, food, cooking gas and fuel, with people having to stand in line for days to obtain them. This led to riots in which protesters occupied key buildings, including the President’s Palace, his office and the Prime Minister’s Office, forcing then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign.
Wickremesinghe was elected by parliamentary vote in July 2022 to cover the remainder of Rajapaksa’s five-year term.
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