Reuters
The vote will follow a largely peaceful and discreet campaign
Sri Lanka's 17.1 million voters will head to the polls again on Thursday to vote in a snap parliamentary election, just seven weeks after choosing a new president.
More than 8,800 candidates are in the running for a vote marked by a discreet campaign.
Voting begins at 07:00 local time (01:30 GMT) and ends until 16:00 (10:30 GMT). The counting will begin in the evening and the results are expected on Friday.
Of the 225 seats in Parliament, 196 deputies will be directly elected. The others would be appointed by political parties based on the percentage of votes they obtain in what is called proportional representation.
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Sri Lankans return to the polls just seven weeks after choosing a new president
“More than 8,800 candidates from 49 political parties and 284 independent groups are running in the elections, but only around 1,000 candidates have actively campaigned,” Rohana Hettiarachchi, executive director of the election monitoring group, told the BBC. 'Popular action for free and fair elections.
High inflation and shortages of food and fuel precipitated a political crisis in 2022 that led to the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. His successor Ranil Wickremesinghe managed to negotiate a bailout worth $3 billion with the International Monetary Fund – but many Sri Lankans continue to feel economic hardship.
“We are still struggling with the problems we faced before. We still have no financial help even to meet our daily needs,” said Manjula Devi, 26, a garment factory worker , who works in the Katunayake free zone, near Colombo. told the BBC.
The number of people living below the poverty line in Sri Lanka has increased to 25.9% over the past four years. The World Bank expects economic growth of just 2.2% in 2024.
“Sri Lanka has still not recovered from the economic crisis of 2022, even with the IMF bailout,” Raisa Wickrematunge, deputy editor of Himal Southasian magazine, told the BBC.
“I am writing to you from Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital, a public hospital that is turning off its lights and fans in an attempt to bring down skyrocketing electricity costs.”
In 2022, the country defaulted on its external debt for the first time, forcing it to seek debt restructuring deals.
Observers expect a multi-cornered fight in the general election, which could ultimately hurt the chances of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake's party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, passing ambitious reforms.
“Analysts predict he may struggle to get two thirds and may have to rely on coalitions. This would make his task much more difficult,” says Raisa Wickrematunge.
The election campaign was generally peaceful and there were no reports of voting-related deaths or large-scale misuse of government resources.
“The violence is negligible compared to previous elections. These will be peaceful elections,” hopes Rohana Hettiarachchie.
