Source: Screencapture of President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s Facebook page profile picture.

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA — Crisis-hit Sri Lanka Wednesday announced its first nationwide elections since its president fled and resigned in the face of widespread protests, in what will be a test of popularity for his successor.

Local government polls will be held before the end of February, officials said, after they were delayed by a year due to the pandemic.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who replaced his deposed predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, faces potential embarrassment in the vote, as he was his party’s sole representative in parliament.

Months of acute shortages of food, fuel and electricity since late 2021 led to mass agitation against Rajapaksa’s administration which defaulted on the country’s US$46 billion external debt in April.

The 73-year-old Wickremesinghe, a six-times prime minister, won a parliamentary vote to replace Rajapaksa with the backing of Rajapaksa’s SLPP party but has no popular mandate.

He has reversed tax cuts ordered by his predecessor and raised prices across the board as inflation peaked at a near 70 per cent record.

Wickremesinghe has also ordered a crackdown against anti-government protests.

At the last local elections in 2018, his United National Party won just 10 per cent of the 340 councils, while conceding 231 to the SLPP.

He has attempted to stall the polls, saying the bankrupt country cannot afford to spend the 10 billion rupees (US$27.6 million) they would cost, but the Independent Election Commission went ahead anyway.

In a brief statement, the Election Commission said nominations for the more than 8,000 councillor positions would be open from 18 to 21 January, after which the vote must be held within 28 days.

The local polls set for February cannot bring down the current national administration.

Wickremesinghe will gain the power to dissolve the current parliament when it completes half of its five-year term on 20 February, but he has shown no indication he wants to go for a snap parliamentary poll.

Constitutionally, a presidential election cannot be held till the last quarter of 2024.

— AFP

Subscribe
Notify of
5 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

IMF: Asia's growth in 2020 to halt for the first time in 60 years due to pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps over Asia, yielding “unprecedented” damage on the…

Why are Hong Kong and Taiwan bickering over the fate of a murderer?

by Su Xinqi and Yan Zhao Hong Konger Chan Tong-kai admits to…

Malaysia ex-premier Muhyiddin arrested by anti-graft body

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, has been arrested by anti-graft authorities over alleged misuse of public funds meant to fight COVID-19. He is expected to face multiple charges relating to corruption and money laundering in court on Friday. Muhyiddin, who served as prime minister for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, now leads an opposition coalition against the current government. His supporters claim that the charges are politically motivated and an attempt to discredit his party ahead of state elections in July.