The Sri Lankan presidential race is shaping up to be a three-cornered contest with President Ranil Wickremesinghe stating on July 28 that he would contest the upcoming election as an independent. The election is scheduled to be held on September 21, Sri Lanka’s election commission announced.
This will be the first election after the people’s uprising of 2022, which forced the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign and flee the country. The serious contenders include Wickremesinghe’s one-time party colleague Sajith Premadasa, who founded the political alliance Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna chief Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Wickremesinghe was appointed President in 2022 because he had the support of the Rajapaksas, who have a political party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), under their control. The SLPP, which was registered in 2016 with a part of the membership of the biggest political party at that time, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), captured the office of the President in the 2019 election, and the parliament soon after.
Wickremesinghe on his own
The SLPP’s Politburo, which met on July 29, decided not to support Wickremesinghe and instead put up its own candidate. One politician said that there was support for Wickremesinghe within the SLPP’s senior membership and that a few MPs wanted the party to support him. However, the other view was that supporting Wickremesinghe would amount to self-harm and hence many leaders, including former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s son Namal Rajapaksa, wanted the SLPP to contest on its own.
Mahinda attended the meeting along with his other brother and political strategist, Basil Rajapaksa. Strangely, though a couple of SLPP leaders were keen on contesting, the party did not pick a candidate. This leaves room for Wickremesinghe for some manoeuvring to seek the SLPP’s support.
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On his part, Wickremesinghe urged people to examine his record from the time that he was made President before voters made their decision. In a lengthy post on social media platform X, Wickremesinghe explained why he was contesting: “I took the challenge because I saw how people were suffering. People were lining up for fuel, fertiliser, and medicine. Schools were shut down and businesses were at a standstill.” He highlighted the steps he took to reverse the free fall of the Sri Lankan economy and said that there were “tough calls” to be made and that he tackled “each one head-on”, including the negotiations with many international organisations for debt relief.
Wickremesinghe claimed that he was “stepping away from old politics” and hence was contesting as an independent. He said: “We can be like Singapore, like Dubai. It is within our reach... We are creating a future for our young people, ensuring they have opportunities right here at home.”
Sajith Premadasa: Primary challenger
Wickremesinghe’s challenger Sajith Premadasa, who had contested the 2019 presidential election and lost to Gotabaya, has so far concentrated on attacking the government on specific issues. This month, he questioned the government’s motive in not adhering to a Supreme Court order directing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to step down. He also attacked the government on its real intention behind handing over visa processing to VFS Global. He claimed that this was a “scam” and that the claim of “US $200 million investment [in Sri Lanka] by VFS” was a “complete lie”.
Sajith Premadasa waves to supporters during a rally in November 2019. For his presidential campaign, Premadasa has decided to concentrate on two issues: corruption and political interference in governance. | Photo Credit: ERANGA JAYAWARDENA/AP
Sajith, son of former President R. Premadasa, asserted that “when a President defies the Supreme Court, he attacks the very fabric” of Sri Lanka’s democracy. Referring to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena’s speech in parliament on July 26, where the government did not accept the Supreme Court’s ruling on suspending IGP Deshabandu Tennakoon, he said that President Wickremesinghe’s actions were “reckless” which “risks plunging us [Sri Lankans] into chaos and oppression”.
Premadasa has decided to concentrate on two issues: corruption, as exemplified by the VFS case, and political interference in governance, as seen in the IGP case. Given the IGP is Sri Lanka’s top police official, the IGP case is snowballing into a major issue with all the opposition political parties and civil society organisations on one side, and President Wickremesinghe on the other. Premadasa’s plank paints Wickremesinghe as a corrupt leader who does not adhere to the rule of law.
Unlike some Supreme Courts in South Asia, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has refused to play ball with the country’s ruling class for nearly a decade. In the IGP case, the Court has so far refused to entertain any revision petitions.
Dissanayake emerges as dark horse
Anura Kumara Dissanayake is the dark horse in the race. Soon after the events of 2022 which shook up the political establishment, he appeared to be the darling of the masses: his public meetings drew huge crowds and he was seen as the politician who would prioritise the people over the ruling class. He was even extended a rare invitation to visit New Delhi and meet the senior leadership of the Indian government.
Others in the field include former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka, former Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, and a candidate from the Aragalaya activists, Nuwan Bopage.
As of now, Fonseka has no major political party backing him. On July 15, , Fonseka, as SJB’s chairman, made it clear that he was unhappy with the manner in which the SJB was functioning and that the reason he refused to leave the SJB was because he had supporters within the alliance.
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His announcement on July 25 claimed that “an inept political group” which led Sri Lanka for 76 years, had “led us to bankruptcy”. Making corruption his election plank, he invited “every Sri Lankan to join” him to take the country forward. At the time of writing, his appeal barely had traction even on the social media platform X–it only got 26 reposts, 48 quotes, and 314 likes.
Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, who also threw his hat into the ring, said that his candidature “will come out as a good news tomorrow [once he wins]”. Rajapakshe, who claims the support of 90 per cent of the SLFP cadre, is a lawyer who has three PhDs, including one in Constitutional Law. On July 29, he announced that he had resigned as Minister to concentrate on his candidacy.
Nuwan Bopage, who was part of the 2022 “Aragalaya movement”, will contest as part of a “People’s Struggle Alliance”. This new alliance comprises student activists, civil society leaders, minor political parties, and journalists. During the Aragalaya struggle, Bopage offered legal services free of cost. He was arrested when the police and Army swooped down to clear activists from the Galle Face area on July 22, 2022. Bopage was also among those named in a case for forcing his way into the Presidential Secretariat during the anti-government protests.
