Sri Lanka announces first presidential vote since unrest

Sri Lanka’s first presidential elections since an unprecedented economic crisis spurred widespread unrest will be held in September, the election commission said Friday.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has steered an effort to repair the island nation’s ruined finances, will face at least two rivals campaigning against austerity measures imposed under an International Monetary Fund bailout plan.

The commission said in a gazette notification that candidate nominations will be accepted on August 15 for a September 21 poll.

Its schedule sets out a five-week campaign in a country still struggling with a fragile economic recovery and endemic discontent over cost of living issues.

More than 17 million Sri Lankans over the age of 18 are eligible to vote.

Opposition parties have vowed to renegotiate terms of the $2.9 billion IMF bailout Wickremesinghe negotiated in early 2023.

Economic reforms are expected to dominate the campaign as the country emerges from its worst-ever recession in 2022, when the GDP shrank by a record 7.8 percent.