Who will be Sri Lanka’s next president? The three candidates in the fray

Sri Lanka is set to elect a new president amid a worsening financial crisis that has left its 22 million people facing a shortage of food and fuel. The election is being held after Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who has been accused of mismanaging the island nation’s economy, was forced to flee the nation and resign.

The leader who takes over the reins of the bankrupt nation has an uphill task ahead of him. It is a three-way contest between acting president and six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, former education minister Dullas Alahapperuma, and Anura Dissanayake, leader of the leftist People’s Liberation Front (JVP).

We take a look at the three candidates and what are their chances.

Ranil Wickremesinghe

A six-time prime minister of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe is the frontrunner for the president’s post, a position that he has sought for decades.

The veteran leader ran for the presidency twice — in 1999 and 2005 — losing both elections. Under his rule, the United National Party (UNP), Sri Lanka’s oldest political party, was annihilated in a parliamentary election in 2020, leaving Wickremesinghe as its only MP.

Born into a politically connected family, with businesses in publishing and plantations, Wickremesinghe started as a rookie reporter at one of the family newspapers. But he turned to a legal career after the family firm was nationalised in 1973 by Sirima Bandaranaike, the world’s first woman prime minister.

He took the political plunge in 1977 and became Sri Lanka’s prime minister in 1993. His smart manoeuvrings have enabled him to remain relevant in the country’s ever-changing political landscape and also helped him secure his sixth appointment to the post of prime minister after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s brother Mahinda was ousted.

While he seems to be a favourite among lawmakers, he does not enjoy the support of the public. This became evident when demonstrators torched his official residence, Temple Trees, last week and demanded that he too step down after Gotabaya fled.

“Ranil is emerging as the law-and-order candidate,” Tamil MP Dharmalingam Sithadthan told AFP. Wickremesinghe has declared a state of emergency in Sri Lanka and given security forces sweeping powers to act against violent demonstrators.

Political analyst Kusal Perera agreed Wickremesinghe had a “slight advantage”, despite his party securing just one seat in the August 2020 elections. “Ranil has regained the acceptance of the urban middle classes by restoring some of the supplies like gas and he has already cleared government buildings showing his firmness,” Perera said.

Dullas Alahapperuma

The 63-year-old lawmaker from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is also in the running for the Sri Lankan president’s post.

Alahapperuma began his political career with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and then joined the SLPP, which was formed by the Rajapaksas.

A former journalist, his first brush with politics was in 1994 when he served as the minister of mass media and a Cabinet spokesperson. He went on to become a member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka from the Matara district but resigned in April when President Rajapaksa dissolved the Cabinet after protesters surrounded his private residence.

In a report by The Quint, Alahapperuma says he strongly believes that the people of this country should not suffer hardships or despair anymore. “It is evident that everyone has a constant desire and interest to find a sustainable solution to the prevailing crises. As a developed cultural society, these issues should be solved within a democratic constitutional political framework,” he said.

Alahapperuma assured that he is a politician of a “friendly and reliable” nature who is capable of receiving the support of all.

Alahapperuma has the support of the Opposition. If he wins, the 63-year-old is expected to name Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa as his prime minister. Premadasa, who is an archrival of Wickremesinghe, pulled out of the presidential race on Tuesday.

Anura Dissanayake

The 53-year-old Dissanayake is the leader of the leftist JVP or People's Liberation Front, whose coalition has three parliamentary seats. He has earlier served as the country’s Cabinet minister for agriculture, livestock, lands and irrigation.

Dissanayake became JVP leader at the 7th national convention in February 2014. He has been in Parliament since 2000.

The fiery politician contested the presidential election in 2019 as a candidate of the National People’s Power (NPP) party and received 4,18,553 votes, which accounted for 3.16 per cent of valid votes in the election.

In the early 1970s, North Korea supported JVP and provided training to cadres, which soured diplomatic relations between the two countries. In 2017, the Sri Lankan government imposed sanctions on the hermit nation, a move criticised by Dissanayake who said North Korea is a socialist country and Sri Lanka should support it, according to a report in News18.com.

Dissanayake has said that his party was ready to pull Sri Lanka out of the current crisis. “Within a short period, such as six months, we can stabilise the country by rectifying the primary causes of the economic crisis. Thereafter, hold a general election and appoint a new government with the mandate of the public,” Dissanayake was quoted as saying by Newswire Sri Lanka last month.

Lawmakers will rank the candidates in order of preference in a secret ballot -- a mechanism which gives them a freer hand than an open poll, and previous elections have seen allegations of bribes offered and accepted in exchange for votes, reports AFP.

The candidates need more than half the vote to be elected. If no one crosses the threshold on first preferences, the candidate with the lowest support will be eliminated and their votes distributed according to second preferences.

The new leader will be in office for the balance of Rajapaksa's term, which runs until November 2024.

With inputs from agencies

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