PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS,
CANDIDATES and
ISSUES of ELECTORS in
SRI LANKA
Finally the date our widely expected presidential elections has been announced. Lankans will cast their votes to elect a new president on September 21 this year.
The result of the election will be critical as the country is still to overcome the challenges of navigating its way out of an unprecedented economic crisis of 2022. Nor has it completely recovered from the mass protests which led to the resignation of former President Gotabaya Rajapakse.
As has been usual in our elections, there will be a plethora of candidates. Many of these worthies will be sponsored by the main political parties in the hope of splitting votes of their rivals.
Since assuming office in July 2022 President Ranil Wickramesinghe’sintroduced a variety of sweeping financial reforms including tax hikes and abolishing of subsidies.
These measures have led to sky-rocketing increases to the cost of living. At the same time, wages have been statics in the state sector. In the mercantile sector salaries and perks have been cut. On the rubber plantations workers are paid an average of LKR 1,000 per day.
The cost for a family of four to have a square meals a day cost over a LKR 100,000. Yet the average monthly wage in the formal sector is estimated to be between LKR 45,000 to LKR 60,000.
Despite bankruptcy and malnutrition stalking the population, corruption I the state sector is rampant. No government has made any effort to curb the menace.
The fact that the main figures behind major financial scams remaining free to continue their crimes is proof something is very wrong in the county.
The question people the voters are faced with is, whether any of our prospective presidential candidates have the political will to tackle these problems. Or will they lead the country down the slippery slope to the chaos of 2022.
