Close contest on cards in Sri Lankan Presidential elections on Sep 21
Sri Lankan elections in India’s Southern neighbourhood with less than a fortnight left for the Presidential polls there. In what promises to be a closely contested fight, Sajith Premadasa, formerly of United National Party, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremasinghe is fighting an uphill battle. However, can still close the gap and win the polls in the second preference vote. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal is the other main contender, but may not stand a chance in this election, according to observers of Lankan elections.
On a recent visit to Colombo, NSA Ajit K Doval met all four candidates and New Delhi is keeping a close eye on elections whose outcome will enable further strategic and economic partnership.
New Delhi desires that the new President will continue with the tradition of safeguarding India’s security interests including disallowing Chinese spy ships. The Indian government, whose support was critical to bring Colombo out of distress in 2022-23, will be willing to lend further support to boost the Lankan economy. Sri Lanka is one of India’s major development partners and this partnership has been an important pillar of bilateral ties between the two countries over the years.
That the Sri Lankan economy came out of the woods but still has not improved income levels is the main issue in this election, according to one of the observers mentioned above.
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