The President of Sri Lanka, Ranil Wickremesinghe, declared his candidature for the forthcoming presidential election this Friday due in September as an independent candidate. He deposited money necessary to contest the elections to confirm this bid.
The election commission of Sri Lanka said earlier on Tuesday that the presidential election will be held on September 21, putting an end to continuous speculation about the main event likely to largely dictate the trajectory of economic reform in the country. This will be the first election since Sri Lanka faced a major economic crisis in 2022.
The 75-year-old Wickramasinghe's deposit was complete with President's Counsel Ronald Perera as an independent candidate. Perera told the media about this arrangement, the state-operated Daily News said, which meant Wickramasinghe is indeed contesting as an independent, NewsFirst reported.
It was earlier set up that Wickremesinghe had a political office, and with the deposit, doubts over his candidacy for the election are dispelled.
The Election Commission opened the window for deposit payments from 8:30 am yesterday and will keep it open until noon on August 14, just before the nominations are due to be called, the-morning.lk reported. The day of official nomination is August 15.
The prospect of Wickremesinghe was somewhat doubtful because his party, the United National Party, had turned weak after a split in 2020. Now, contesting as an independent candidate, Wickremesinghe is going to ride on the economic recovery the country has experienced with his help ever since Sri Lanka declared bankruptcy in April 2022. That crisis had compelled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign amidst massive protests against his mismanagement of the crisis.
Parliament appointed Wickremesinghe as the interim president in July 2022 to complete Rajapaksa's term as President of the United National Party. Assuming the roles of President and Finance Minister, Wickremesinghe has been forcing through some stringent economic reforms on the lines of the parameters laid down by the International Monetary Fund.
This is going to be the third time that Wickremesinghe would be contesting for presidency after he lost the presidential elections in 1999 and again in 2005 as the main oppositional candidate.
