Sri Lanka’s presidential election has begun in full swing. 39 candidates submitted their nomination papers to the Election Commission on Thursday. Reuters news
There will be a presidential election on September 21. The country, which is immersed in economic crisis, is slowly raising its head. At such a time, everyone will be looking at who will be elected and take control of the economy.
There are 1.7 million valid voters in the country. They will elect the tenth president for the next 5 years. Those who survive the selection phase of the candidates will officially survive in the electoral arena and will be busy campaigning. President Ranil Wickremesinghe is scheduled to hold an election rally in the historic city of Anuradhapura on Saturday.
He plans to attend 100 campaign meetings. This will be the first of them. His opponents have planned dozens of rallies each.
Sri Lanka has been trying to achieve financial success since its foreign exchange reserves were depleted. As a result, the candidates are expected to mention in their manifestos in the coming weeks how to revive the country’s economy. More important issues will include corruption and improving living standards.
In the Sri Lankan electoral system, a voter can vote for three candidates of his choice. The candidate who gets 50 percent or more of the votes will be the winner. But if no candidate gets 50 percent of the votes, a second round of voting will be held between the two candidates who get the most votes. The one who gets more votes will be the new president. Voting will be held in tens of thousands of polling stations under tight security.
Government officials in the presence of Election Commission officials, election observers and candidates’ representatives will start the counting after polling. The Election Commission will officially announce the name of the winner. It may be announced on 22nd September. The new president is usually sworn in on the same day.
