Cash-strapped Sri Lanka was voting for its next president Saturday in an effective referendum on an unpopular International Monetary Fund austerity plan enacted after the island nation’s unprecedented financial crisis.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe is fighting an uphill battle for a fresh mandate to continue belt-tightening measures that stabilize the economy and end months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.
His two years in office restored calm to the streets after civil unrest spurred by the downturn in 2022 saw thousands storm the compound of his predecessor, who promptly fled the country.
“I’ve taken this country out of bankruptcy,” Wickremesinghe, 75, said after casting his ballot in the morning.
“I will now deliver Sri Lanka a developed economy, developed social system and developed political system.”
But Wickremesinghe’s tax hikes and other measures, imposed per the terms of a $2.9 billion IMF bailout, have left millions struggling to make ends meet.
“There should be a change in the country,” voter Mohamed Siraj Razik, 43, told AFP. “Extravagant state spending just to benefit politicians must end.”
Wickremesinghe is tipped to lose to one of two formidable challengers. One is Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the leader of a once-marginal Marxist party tarnished by its violent past.
The party led two failed uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s that left more than 80,000 people dead, and it won less than four percent of the vote in the last parliamentary elections.
But Sri Lanka’s crisis has proven an opportunity for the 55-year-old Dissanayaka, who has seen a surge of support based on his pledge to change the island’s “corrupt” political culture.
Fellow opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, 57, the son of a former president assassinated in 1993 during the country’s decades-long civil war, is also expected to make a strong showing.
He vowed to fight endemic corruption, and both he and Dissanayaka have pledged to renegotiate the terms of the IMF rescue package.
“There is a significant number of voters trying to send a strong message… that they are very disappointed with the way this country has been governed,” Murtaza Jafferjee of think tank Advocata told AFP.
A total of 39 people are contesting the vote, including one 79-year-old candidate who remains on the ballot despite dying of a heart attack last month.
More than 17 million people are eligible to vote in the election, with more than 63,000 police deployed to guard polling booths and counting centres.
“We also have anti-riot squads on standby in case of any trouble, but so far everything is peaceful,” police spokesman Nihal Talduwa said.
“In some areas, we have had to deploy police to ensure polling booths are safe from wild animals, especially wild elephants.”
Dozens of people were lining up outside polling stations in Colombo before voting began, with a heavy security presence across the capital.
Polls close at 4:00 pm (1030 GMT), with counting to begin on Saturday evening.
A result is expected on Sunday, but an official outcome could be delayed if the contest is close.
