ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is going for presidential elections Saturday to elect the ninth president with with candidates promising salary hikes for state workers, more handouts for the poor and tax cuts as the economy recovered from a currency collapse that pushed inflation to 70 percent.
The island nation’s 17.1 voters will elect the new leader in the poll in which the winner is widely expected to be chosen after a second preferential vote count due to a tight race among the top three candidates.
Fighting against corruption, economic recovery from the debt crisis, tax reduction, granting concessions, public sector salary hike, and debt restructuring under International Monetary Fund (IMF) reforms have been at the centre stage of the campaigns.
The election comes two years after a political crisis that ousted former president Gotabaya Rajapasa and his government after mass protests following forex shortages and a currency crisis from rate cuts.
Tens of thousands of people agitated on the road as they faced shortage for essential goods including fuel and medicines due to forex shortages coming from money printed by the central bank.
The election will be an acid test for President Ranil Wickremesinghe who is contesting under a broader independent coalition and has claimed credit for the current economic stability after implementing tax hikes to strenghten state finances and allowing the central bank to avoid printing money.
Under Wickremesinghe, the rupee has stabilized, inflation has slowed to near zero from over 70 percent during the peak of economic crisis, economic growth has turned to positive from contraction, and government revenue has jumped sharply after new taxes and increase in value added tax (VAT).
However, his critics including two top presidential candidates – Opposition and center-right Samagi Jana Balavegaya leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxists Janatha Vimukthi Peremuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) coalition, have campaigned saying that he has not taken enough action on corruption.
Analysts see Dissanayaka, Premadasa, and Wickremesinghe as the top three candidates, but none of them get more than 50 percent votes, which will lead to a second preferential vote counting.
DIFFICULT PROMISES
Dissanayaka strongly campaigned against corruption under previous governments including Wickremesinghe and Rajapaksa.
Premadasa in his campaign asked the people to vote for his team who are considered to be better in handling the economy.
Concerns have been raised over promises by the candidates which are likely to increase the government expenditure, if implemented without new revenue measures.
“Listening to what is going to be delivered is making me dizzy as common sense tells me that lots of promises are quite difficult if not improbable,” Ajith de Alwais, an engineering professor, wrote in his column on local newspaper Daily FT this week.
Wickremesinghe is contesting for presidency for the third time after he failed in 1999 and 2005, Premadasa and Dissanayaka for the second time after 2019.
The polling will start at 0700 hours (0130 GMT) and end at 0400 hours (1030 GMT).
The results of postal votes are expected to be announced late on Saturday and electoral results early on Sunday.
The second preferential vote counting is also expected to be completed on Sunday and the new president is expected to be declared late on Sunday, “if everything goes well”, an Election Commission official has said. (Colombo/September 21/2024)