COLOMBO: Sri Lanka held its first presidential election on Saturday since an unprecedented economic crisis bankrupted the country and sparked a popular uprising that forced its leader to temporarily flee abroad. President Ranil Wickremesinghe took office in 2022 at the height of massive protests over food, fuel and medicine shortages that ousted his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He set out to repair the island nation’s battered finances through bailouts from the International Monetary Fund and debt restructuring with foreign creditors, including China. But his austerity efforts are deeply resented by Sri Lankans, who say tax hikes have left them struggling to put food on the table, and he faces a formidable challenger from the once marginal Marxist leader. Ahead of Saturday’s vote, the following series of stories looks at the political, social and economic implications of the vote.
