Sri Lanka Heads to the Polls: A Presidential Election That’s a Make-or-Break Vote on IMF’s Austerity Plan
- Time: 2024-09-21 13:08
- News citation: Interview, AFP
- Author: Zheng Jingmao
Sri Lanka Holds Presidential Election, a Virtual Referendum on IMF’s Austerity Plan
Financially embattled Sri Lanka will elect a president today (21st) and hold a real referendum on the unpopular International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity plan enacted after the country’s unprecedented financial crisis.
Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is fighting hard to approve new austerity measures that have stabilized the economy and ended months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.
In 2022, civil unrest caused by the economic recession caused thousands of people to enter the former president’s official residence, and the former president quickly fled the country. Peace returned to the streets during Wickremesinghe’s two years in power.
“We must continue with reforms to end bankruptcy,” Wickramasinghe, 75, said at his final rally in the capital Colombo this week.
“Decide whether you want to go back to the time of terror or the time of prosperity,” Wickramasinghe said.
But other measures implemented by Wickremesinghe in the form of tax hikes and a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout have left millions struggling to make ends meet.
Wickremesinghe could lose to one of two strong rivals, including Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, leader of a Marxist party marginalized by its violent history.
Sri Lanka’s crisis is an opportunity for Dissanayakar, 55, who has attracted widespread support for his pledge to change the island nation’s “corrupt” political culture.
A strong performance is also expected from opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, 57, whose father was killed in 1993 during the country’s decades-long civil war.
“A large number of voters are trying to send a strong message… they are very disappointed with the way the country is being run,” think tank advocate Murtaza Jafarji told AFP.
Thirty-nine people are contesting the election, including a 79-year-old candidate who died of a heart attack last month but remains on the ballot.