Sri Lanka presidential poll: Voting concludes, counting begins

Millions of Sri Lankans voted on Saturday (September 21) to elect a new president in the country’s first elections since a devastating economic crisis two years ago toppled the then president and triggered political tremors.

Some 60 per cent of the nearly 17 million voters had exercised their franchise across the country till 2 pm in the most tightly contested battle ever for presidency since 1982.

Officials are yet to release the final voting percentage as the polling concluded without any violence or security breaches.

The electoral battle is a litmus test for incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who took charge of the country in 2022 after massive protests against a collapsed economy forced then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country.

The counting of postal votes commenced immediately after the voting closed at 4 pm, officials said.

Postal votes were cast by government employees mostly election officials, military and police. The postal voting was conducted four days earlier.

After postal votes are counted, “at 6 pm, we would like to start normal counting,” Colombo City Deputy Election Commissioner MKSKK Bandaramapa said earlier in the day.

Incumbent Wickremesinghe

Wickremesinghe, 75, is seeking approval for his policies which have rescued Sri Lanka from the brink of total disaster. But critics say there is widespread opposition to his IMF-induced tax reforms.

This is the most keenly contested of all presidential elections since 1982 with 38 candidates in the fray. There was one more contestant but he died after filing nomination papers.

Besides Wickremesinghe, the three main players in the elections are opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, Marxist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Namal Rajapaksa, son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Brisk polling on

Balloting began nationwide at 7 am and will continue till 4 pm, at least. The millions of voters will be counted through the night, and the results are expected to be known on Sunday morning.

If no candidate gets 50 per cent of votes plus one, then officials will count the second and third preference votes of all the other candidates except the top two who will alone be deemed to be still in the race.

Heavy security

More than 200,000 officials have been deployed to conduct the election. Some 63,000 police personnel are providing security.

Buddhist temple halls, schools and community centres have been converted into polling stations.

The Police Elections Bureau said voting was proceeding peacefully, with no reports of violence.

Wickremesinghe counts achievements

"It's a turning point for Sri Lanka to get away from conventional politics which destroyed the country and the conventional economy which destroyed the country... and a new social system, and a political system," Wickremesinghe said after casting his vote in Colombo.

Under Wickremesinghe, the rupee has stabilised, inflation has slowed to near zero from over 70 per cent during the peak of the economic crisis, economic growth has turned to positive from contraction.

Premadasa versus Dissanayake

Most political observers say the main contest is between Premadasa and Dissanayake, who has seen a huge surge in support due to his JVP party’s participation on the 2022 mass protests and his pledge to change the island's "corrupt" political culture.

Both Dissanayake and Premadasa want to tinker with the IMF programme to give more economic relief to the public. Wickremesinghe has warned that this will lead to disaster.

Almost everyone admits that economic woes will be plaguing the voters’ minds the most.