COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s first presidential vote since an unprecedented economic and political crisis spurred widespread unrest will be conducted in September, the election commission announced Friday.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe will face two rivals campaigning against austerity steps imposed under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout plan.
The commission stated in a gazette notification that candidate nominations will be accepted on August 15 for a September 21 elections.
Its schedule sets out a five-week election campaign in a country still struggling with a weak economic recovery and widespread discontent over cost-of-living issues.
Around 17 million people in the country over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in the elections. Opposition parties have pledged to renegotiate terms of the $2.9 billion IMF bailout Wickremesinghe negotiated in 2023.
Economic reforms are likely to dominate the election campaign as the nation emerges from its worst-ever recession in 2022, when the GDP contracted by a record 7.8 percent.
