Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister of Sri Lanka for the sixth-time, won the election to succeed Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday by defeating the left-wing head of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Anura Kumara Dissanayake, and dissident leader Dullas Alahapperuma.
Voting for a new president in Sri Lanka started on Wednesday. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country when violent demonstrators stormed his palace, is expected to be replaced by a harsher leader.
Each lawmaker went inside a voting booth that had been set up on the chamber floor to select one of three candidates to govern the troubled nation.
Parliamentary Secretary-General Dhammika Dasanayake reminded the members that it was illegal to photograph ballots or display them to anyone. Vote buying and suspicions of corruption have tainted previous elections.
The victor will lead a bankrupt country that is in bailout negotiations with the IMF and whose 22 million citizens are dealing with serious shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies.
Despite the presence of hundreds of heavily armed soldiers and police outside the parliament, no protesters could be seen.
Analysts predict that six-time former prime minister and acting president Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is hated by demonstrators who view him as a Rajapaksa friend, will win the election.
Days after forces rescued the leader from his besieged home, Rajapaksa announced his resignation from Singapore last Thursday, capping months of protests over an unprecedented economic crisis.
After his brothers also resigned from their positions as premier and finance minister earlier this year, his departure hurts a once-dominant ruling bloodline that has controlled Sri Lankan politics for the majority of the past two decades.
The state of emergency that provides police and security forces broad authority has been extended by Wickremesinghe, the acting president, and last week he gave troops the command to remove demonstrators from state facilities they had taken.
According to an opposition MP, most SLPP lawmakers would support Wickremesinghe because of his tough attitude against demonstrators, which was favorably received by MPs who had seen mob violence.
According to Tamil MP Dharmalingam Sithadthan, “Ranil is emerging as the law-and-order candidate” prior to the vote.
Despite his own party winning just one seat in the elections in August 2020, political analyst Kusal Perera concurred that Wickremesinghe had a “slight advantage.”
“By returning some of the supplies, like gas, and by already clearing government buildings, Ranil has restored the respect of the urban middle classes,” Perera claimed.
As lobbying increased before the vote, it appeared that the race was tight. Dullas Alahapperuma, Wickremesinghe’s major rival, received the backing of two lesser parties, while a Tamil party with two votes announced that it was switching sides to back Wickremesinghe.
If Wickremesinghe prevails and the protesters, who have also been calling for his resignation and accusing him of defending the Rajapaksas’ interests, take to the streets, observers predict that Wickremesinghe will retaliate harshly.
Former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the elder brother of the ousted Gotabaya and head of the dynasty that has long dominated Sri Lankan politics, is still present in the nation and, according to party insiders, is pressuring SLPP lawmakers to back Wickremesinghe.
He faced out against former education minister and SLPP dissident Alahapperuma, a former journalist who is supported by the opposition, in the poll.
In a statement last week, Alahapperuma promised to establish “an actual consensual government for the first time in our history.”
The 63-year-old is anticipated to appoint Sajith Premadasa as his prime minister if he prevails. When Alahapperuma was an advocate for human rights in the 1980s, Premadasa’s late father Ranasinghe ruled the nation with an iron grip.
Anura Dissanayake, 53, the head of the communist People’s Liberation Front (JVP), whose coalition holds three parliamentary seats, was the third contender.
Candidates are ranked in order of preference by lawmakers, and more than 50% of the vote is required to win.
The candidate with the least support is eliminated, and the votes are then allocated according to second preferences if no candidate receives enough support to pass the first preference threshold.
If Wickremesinghe is confirmed in the position, he is anticipated to choose Dinesh Gunawardena, a 73-year-old public administration minister and staunch Rajapaksa supporter, as the new prime minister.
