Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the Marxist JVP’s (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s) broader Front National People’s Power (NPP) leader consolidated his lead in Sri Lanka’s Presidential Elections, even after the second round of the counting following a historic election. According to reports, Mr. Dissanayake has grabbed a commanding lead.

September 21, 2024 election was very significant for Sri Lanka, as the political landscape in Sri Lanka has greatly changed in recent years, especially after former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted mid-term during Sri Lanka’s economic crisis. In the cumulative vote count declared on Sunday (September 22, 2024), 56-year-old, Dissanayake has amassed a maximum of votes against his nearest rival 57-year-old Sajith Premadasa, the main Opposition leader. The incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, trailed way behind.

The election marked the first opportunity citizens had to choose their leader, after they ousted former President Rajapaksa, at the height of a crushing economic downturn two years ago, in 2022. The crisis, which triggered unprecedented mass protests, was the worst the island nation has seen since Independence in 1948. Besides booting out Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the people’s struggle sought to shake up the country’s establishment with a loud cry for “system change”. After Gotabaya fled the country and quit office, senior politician Ranil Wickremesinghe took his place through a parliamentary vote. Ranil had won with the support of the Rajapaksas’ party, which still holds a majority in the legislature.

As the imports-reliant country ran out of dollars, essential supplies were severely hit. People were forced to contend with long queues for fuel and gas, shortage of food and medicines and prolonged power cuts. With no solution in sight, citizens took to the streets. The agitations soon grew into a formidable mass uprising and had evicted Mr. Gotabaya from the presidency.

Since it is the first time that citizens will have a chance to elect their leader after the unprecedented financial meltdown in 2022, their economic concerns are the chief poll issue. This marks a departure from the island nation’s last few elections that were dominated by promises of “eradicating terrorism” (the country’s three-decade-long civil war ended in 2009), and pledges of delivering “good governance”, or “national security”. This time, the main contenders running for president did promise to fix the country’s broken economy, offering mildly different versions of policy outlines tethered to an ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Known as Sri Lanka in Sinhala, this island nation is located in the Indian Ocean, just off the southeastern coast of India. It is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar, and Palk Strait, and lies near India and the Maldives. The geography of Sri Lanka includes coastal plains in the north and hills and mountains in the interior. Despite its modest size, it has a population of about 20 million people. As a British crown colony, it was known as Ceylon and achieved its independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948.

A cash-strapped nation is eyeing China development projects once again. They seem to hope for Chinese-funded real estate “Port City” development. It can woo much-needed foreign investors. Its economic collapse was partly blamed on struggling high-debt Chinese mega-projects, but candidates are banking on at least one of them to buck the trend. The country has suffered its worst financial meltdown in 2022, when it ran out of dollars to import essentials, sparking street protests that toppled the then-president Rajapaksa.

The president of Sri Lanka is the elected head of state and the chief executive of Sri Lanka.  The president is a dominant political figure in the country. The office was created in 1972, as more of a ceremonial position. It was empowered with executive powers by the 1978 Constitution.