Sri Lanka sets September 21 as date for presidential election

COLOMBO: The presidential election in Sri Lanka will take place on September 21, the elections commission announced on Friday.

The announcement ended months-long speculation that the election would be postponed to extend the term of the incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The government gazette no 2394/51 issued today said in terms of Article 31 (3) of the constitution the election would take place on September 21 while the nominations would be accepted on August 15.

The election announcement set to end the balance term of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was ousted mid 2022 in a popular public uprising. Rajapaksa had been elected with a record near 7 million votes in November 2019 when the last presidential election was held.

Tens of thousands, who got to the streets, in early 2022 demanded Rajapaksa step down for his failure to tackle the island’s gravest economic crisis since 1948.

Rajapaksa was forced to flee the country on July 9, 2022 and incumbent Wickremesinghe, who was the crisis prime minister, was elected through parliament to succeed Rajapaksa.

Wickremesinghe undertook the difficult task of reviving the bankrupt economy by tapping a bail-out facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

India provided Sri Lanka with a lifeline of USD 4 billion in the first quarter of 2022 which paid for food and essentials imports in the balance of payment crisis.

By mid-April, Sri Lanka had declared its first sovereign default. A year later came the IMF's first tranche of the nearly 3 billion facility to be extended over 4 years.

However, the stringent reforms attached to the programme made the government unpopular.

Wickremesinghe stood firm in his commitment to implement reforms and has vowed to steer the country out of bankruptcy.

He is expected to vie for his return as the president.