sri lanka presidential election – Artifex.News

In southern Sri Lanka, a chant for change this poll season

admin — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 03:38:18 +0000

Buddhika Dissanayake says she has never had to think so hard before an election. “Earlier, we voted for the party that our family backed for generations, it was an easy choice,” says the middle-aged voter in Kurunegala district, in Sri Lanka’s North Western Province. With hardly a fortnight left for the island nation’s crucial presidential election, she is undecided.

Her dilemma is not uncommon among Sri Lankan voters gearing up for the September 21 contest, in which some 17 million voters will have a say. In the five years between 2019, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected President, and now, the country’s political landscape and economic path have altered drastically, making this presidential poll unlike any other the island nation has seen.

In the eight presidential elections preceding this, the country’s two major political camps — the centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the centre-right United National Party (UNP), or their political offshoots — fielded a candidate each. Each of those elections, fought hard by two ideologically opposed contestants, yielded a clear winner.

But this time, voters are navigating a more complex electoral field with three main contestants. Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, who replaced ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa~~through a parliamentary vote, is running as an independent candidate. His two foremost challengers, Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, are in opposition.~~

“We must think hard and choose carefully,” says Ms. Dissanayake, pointing to the daunting task facing the next head of state and government – fixing Sri Lanka’s broken economy.

Kurunegala is a district with high external migration, sending a large number of women for domestic work. The long median dividing a main road in town advertises agencies promising jobs abroad. As a counsellor to migrant workers on their safety, Ms. Dissanayake meets many who are desperately seeking jobs abroad, after the financial crisis and resultant austerity measures plunged their households in poverty.

“Whoever is elected must wipe out corruption that is rampant, and rebuild our economy,” she says. “We can’t let things remain this way”.

Also read: In Sri Lanka, a long and rocky road to economic recovery

When Sri Lanka’s economy crashed in 2022, it triggered a mass uprising that not only protested shortages and power cuts, but emphatically rejected the old, “corrupt” political order they despised. The agitating citizens demanded “system change”.

Chant for change

It is that chant for change that has now evolved as the chief election logic guiding many Sri Lankan voters. “In 2022, when people chased away the Rajapaksas, they showed they have the power. In this election [the first since] we need someone new, someone different. We need change,” says homemaker Chula Mihirani, voicing a popular sentiment.

Local and global economists endlessly debate Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and debt treatment policies, but Ms. Mihirani’s sees the crisis persisting in her home. “The cost of living is unbearable. My son is sitting for his school final exam, we cannot afford private tuition or transport for him.” Thanks to their small paddy field, her family that solely relies on her husband’s earnings as a driver, is not starving although the yield has fallen. “They say things are improving, but for whom? We know that even this respite came because we have suspended repaying our foreign loans. Once that begins, it is going to get even harder,” she said.

Availability versus affordability

The last time economic concerns dominated a national election in Sri Lanka was in 1977, before the raging ethnic conflict took centre stage. Cashing in on voter resentment over then Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s policies of import substitution and food rationing, J.R. Jayewardene defeated her in a landslide.

Nearly half a century later, President Wickremesinghe, who is Mr. Jayewardene’s nephew, is seeking a mandate to take forward his government’s ongoing economic reform agenda, shaped by a $ 3-billion International Monetary Fund programme. While his backers credit him for removing fuel queues from the roads and bringing in some fiscal stability, critics point to the painful austerity measures — energy and fuel prices doubled; and indirect taxes soared to 18 % — that especially affect families like Ms. Mihirani’s. The stability that is hailed in Colombo is yet to reach their doorsteps.

On the other hand, supporters of Mr. Wickremesinghe see the availability of essentials as a significant improvement after the shortages of 2022. It is true that finding supplies is not as hard now, but poor families say affording them is.

Given this reality, voters in many such households are unable to see change begin with Mr. Wickremesinghe at the helm. Especially so, since he rose to presidency with the Rajapaksas’ support and ran a government made up of members of their discredited party.

Making a choice

Meanwhile, the once formidable Rajapaksa surname hardly figures in the context of the coming election, signalling voters have little appetite yet for their comeback. This, despite Mahinda Rajapaksa being the sitting MP for Kurunegala, from where he won handsomely in 2020, and his son Namal Rajapaksa running for president.

A total of 38 contestants are in the race, but the real contest is limited to three candidates. Some, particularly in Colombo, see value in continuity if Mr. Wickremesinghe wins, while those decidedly voting for change are divided between Mr. Premadasa and Mr. Dissanayake.

Also read: In Sri Lanka’s hill country, expectations low ahead of presidential polls

“Although Mr. Premadasa comes from an established political party, he has never had the chance to lead the country. With his experience, he will be able to govern well, I think,” says Fathima Rinosha, making a case for a known, even if untested, leader.

Mr. Premadasa is also seen as a preferred candidate in the hill country among Malaiyaha Tamil voters, including on the tea estates. Additionally, southern voters, who have troubling memories of the armed insurrections led by Mr. Dissanayake’s party [the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front) with Marxist origins] in 1971 and 1987-89, seem more comfortable with Mr. Premadasa, observes Kurunegala-based women’s rights activist Sumika Perera.

In Focus podcast | Sri Lanka Presidential elections: Will they deliver on the political expectations of the 2022 protesters?

All the same, some voters say Mr. Premadasa does not represent a clean break from the old political system that they are tired of. He was with the UNP before breaking away to lead the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Force). He is the son of Ranasinghe Premadasa, a former President, accused of unleashing state terror on JVP rebels. “Ranil and Sajith are two sides of the same coin,” says K. Wijerathna, a trader in the neighbouring Matale district, seeing them both as part of the political “establishment”.

“We use all our earnings to meet the increased living costs and don’t save a penny. The crisis has left wage labourers, traders, small businessmen, all of us suffering. We need a complete system overhaul to get out of this,” he says, near his store at the Dambulla Economic Centre, a national hub for wholesale and retail distribution of vegetables grown on the island. Mr. Wijerathna had to sell his vehicle. Many others are pawning all their jewellery or taking microfinance loans to cope. “No one can bring about radical changes tomorrow itself, but AKD [as Mr. Dissanayake is referred to] is the only leader who can weed out corruption and bring about change. He is not part of that corrupt political class,” he contends.

Ms. Mihirani is supporting Dissanayake for the same reason. Compared to his rivals from traditional, mainstream political camps, and whose uncle or father were presidents, “AKD” is furthest from Sri Lanka’s political elite. Further, his alliance is campaigning hard through public rallies and on the ground, through pocket meetings. In villages across Sri Lanka, especially in the south and central parts, posters of Mr. Dissanayake pop up frequently out of the road margins. Relatively fewer posters of other main candidates are visible.

S.H. Razi, a public sector worker in neighbouring Anuradhapura district, is not dewy-eyed about what is in store. However, he sees Mr. Dissanayake as the “only candidate” offering “some hope” since the aragalaya, or the people’s struggle of 2022. “Sri Lanka’s youth learnt from India’s farmers and now we saw Bangladesh’s youth learning from their Sri Lankan counterparts,” he laughs. “That uprising gave us hope…we need to build on that”.

Voters’ buoyant endorsement of Mr. Dissanayake as the “symbol of change”, coupled with the lead many local polls give him, have made him a frontrunner in the contest, even as Mr. Premadasa steadily acquires support through poll alliances, especially with representatives of ethnic minorities. However, even voters know it is premature to be certain about anyone’s victory in an electorate as fragmented.

S.R. Karunaratne, a farmer from Kekirawa town in Anuradhapura, is in no hurry to decide, because he does not think any of the candidates have offered “a realistic economic plan” that will make life better for everyone. “In all these years we have relied on imports rather than building an export-oriented economy. Today we are so indebted to the world that even our children won’t be able to finish repaying all this debt,” said Mr. Karunaratne.

Published – September 11, 2024 09:08 am IST

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Sri Lanka’s Presidential polls: Ranil Wickremesinghe backed by grand alliance of more than 30 parties

admin — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 10:33:58 +0000

President Ranil Wickremesinghe gestures as he arrives at the Election Commission in Rajagiriya to submit his nomination papers for the upcoming Presidential election, scheduled for September 21, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on August 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the front runner in the Presidential poll scheduled for next month, was on Friday (August 16, 2024) endorsed by a grand coalition of more than 30 political parties and groups.

This comes after Mr. Wickremesinghe (75) announced himself as the independent candidate on Thursday (August 15, 2024) by handing over nominations to contest the September 21 Presidential election.

Election crucial for Sri Lanka’s future: President Ranil Wickremesinghe

Ranil Wickremesinghe, the leader of the now decimated grand old party, the United National Party (UNP), is backed by the Rajapaksa family breakaways from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

Mr. Wickremesinghe was elected as the stop-gap President after then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted in a popular uprising following his inability to handle the country’s unprecedented economic crisis that led to a shortage of essential commodities.

The SLPP of the Rajapaksas provided Mr. Wickremesinghe with Parliamentary support to become the President but did not approve of the incumbent President’s hard reforms to revive the bankrupt economy. The SLPP has fielded the heir apparent of the dynasty Namal Rajapaksa (38) against him.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, who initiated a hard reform programme led by the International Monetary Fund, took upon reviving the economy with the support from his SLPP-dominated Cabinet.

Explained | The political career of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe

“I’m thankful to those who supported me to handle this difficult task. They did not run away when challenged to perform the responsibilities of the country,” Mr. Wickremesinghe, also the Finance Minister, said.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, since being elected, implemented hard economic reforms as necessitated by the IMF to secure a bail-out of nearly $3 billion over four years.

His hard reforms brought in stability although the Opposition said the economic hardships caused by the IMF deal had left the public in the lurch. The Opposition has vowed to renegotiate the IMF programme to provide relief to the public.

Mr. Wickremesinghe’s main rivals are once his deputy Sajith Premadasa and the leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

There have been several individuals who changed loyalties to Mr. Wickremesinghe and Premadasa and vice-versa since the election was announced by the island nation’s independent election commission.

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Ranil Wickremesinghe to contest presidential polls as independent candidate, says aide

admin — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 12:16:13 +0000

President of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will contest the Presidential election as an independent candidate, his aide said on July 7.

Deputy Chairman of the United National Party Ruwan Wijewardene confirmed that the presidential election will definitely be held and Mr. Wickremesinghe, 75, will contest the election as an independent candidate, News 1st reported.

“Only one leader possesses the knowledge to solve Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. That is Ranil Wickremesinghe. He has proved it with his actions,” he was quoted as saying by the news portal.

On July 7, Election Commission Chairman R.M.A.L. Ratnayake said the electoral body would be legally empowered after July 17 to announce the date for the election.

Mr. Ratnayake added that the commission will announce the date for the next presidential poll before the end of this month.

The Election Commission in May said the presidential election would be conducted between September 17 and October 16.

Mr. Ratnayake said the commission is currently in the process of putting final touches to the 2024 electoral register which will be the basis for the election. Over 17 million would be eligible to vote in the election as per the revised list, officials said.

In April 2022, the island nation declared its first-ever sovereign default since gaining Independence from Britain in 1948. The unprecedented financial crisis led President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to quit office in 2022 amid civil unrest over his inability to handle the crisis.

In July 2022, Mr. Wickremesinghe was elected through parliament to become stop-gap President for the balance term of Mr. Rajapaksa.

Mr. Wickremesinghe, also the Finance Minister, hasn’t made any public statement on his bid for re-election.

“This election isn’t merely about selecting individuals but about choosing the most effective system for our country’s progress. If you believe in the merits of the current approach, let us proceed accordingly,” the President’s Media Division quoted him as saying earlier.

The government under Mr. Wickremesinghe has set in place hard economic reforms as dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

President Wickremesinghe last month said that his government has finalised a long-delayed debt restructuring agreement for $5.8 billion with its bilateral lenders, including India and China, in Paris to meet a key condition of an IMF bailout.

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