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==Candidates==
≈==Candidates==
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* [[Sri Lanka Muslim Congress]] <ref>https://www.adaderana.lk/news/100989/slmc-to-offer-conditional-support-to-sajith-in-prez-poll</ref>
* [[Sri Lanka Muslim Congress]] <ref>https://www.adaderana.lk/news/100989/slmc-to-offer-conditional-support-to-sajith-in-prez-poll</ref>
* [[Up-Country People's Front]] <ref>https://mawratanews.lk/news/kandura-janata-peramuna-has-decided-to-support-sajith-in-nuwara-eliya-radhakrishnan-tells-the-verdict-join-sjb-alliance-on-the-8th-i-sri-lanka-latest-news/</ref>
* [[Up-Country People's Front]] <ref>https://mawratanews.lk/news/kandura-janata-peramuna-has-decided-to-support-sajith-in-nuwara-eliya-radhakrishnan-tells-the-verdict-join-sjb-alliance-on-the-8th-i-sri-lanka-latest-news/</ref>
* [[United Peoples Freedom Allince]] <ref>https://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/SLFP-and-UPFA-faction-back-Sajith-Premadasa-in-Presidential-Election/155-288704</ref>
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* Previously ran in [[2019 Sri Lankan presidential election|2019]].
* Previously ran in [[2019 Sri Lankan presidential election|2019]].

Revision as of 01:46, 5 August 2024

2024 Sri Lankan presidential election
← 2022 21 September 2024 2029 →
  File:Anura Kumara Dissanayaka.jpg
Candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe Sajith Premadasa Anura Kumara Dissanayake
Party Independent SJB JVP
Alliance SJB NPP
 
Candidate Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe
Party NDF
Incumbent President

Ranil Wickremesinghe
UNP



Presidential elections will be held in Sri Lanka on 21 September 2024.[1][2] Voters will elect a president for a 5-year term. Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe is running for re-election as an independent candidate.[3][4][5] This would make him the first incumbent president to run for re-election since Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Other candidates include Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa and NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

Electoral system

The President of Sri Lanka is elected via limited ranked voting. Voters can express up to three ranked preferences for President. If no candidate receives over 50% of valid votes on the first count, all candidates except for the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes are eliminated. The second and third preferences of the eliminated candidates are distributed until one of the remaining two candidates receives an outright majority.[6] In practice, this system has seen little use, as each direct election going back to the first in 1981 has resulted in a candidate from one of the two major parties or alliances at the time winning in the first count. For this reason, many citizens opt to mark only one candidate, and many are wholly unaware that multiple candidates can be ranked at all.[7]

Background

The last direct presidential elections held in Sri Lanka were in 2019, where SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory, defeating his main opponent Sajith Premadasa.[8][9] Rajapaksa would eventually resign on 14 July 2022 amidst the 2022 Sri Lankan protests.[10] This triggered an indirect presidential election via Parliament a week later, to elect a successor according to the Article 40 of the Constitution.[11] Then-incumbent Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was appointed by Rajapaksa just two months earlier, received the most votes and was sworn in as the 9th President of Sri Lanka on 21 July 2022.[12][13]

Article 40 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka states that "Any person so succeeding to the office of President shall hold office only for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office."[14] President Wickremesinghe's term is due to expire on 17 November 2024.[15]

Discussion of the 2024 election has been a major topic since the beginning of 2024 and the Election Commission stated that the election must be held between 17 September and 16 October as required by the Constitution. On 26 July, the Election Commission issued a Gazette notification declaring that the election will be held on 21 September 2024, while nominations for candidates will be accepted by 15 August. The commission chose to hold the election on a Saturday, saying that it wanted to ensure high voter turnout. The same day, Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his candidacy for president for a second term, as an independent candidate.[1][5]

Sri Lankan recent election results
Dates of elections Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna
(SLPFA) 		Samagi Jana Balawegaya National People's Power Tamil National Alliance United National Party Others
Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes % Votes %
2019 presidential election 6,924,255 52.25% － － 418,553 3.16% － － 5,564,239 41.99%[i] 345,452 2.35%
2020 parliamentary election 6,853,690 59.09% 2,771,980 23.90% 445,958 3.84% 327,168 2.82% 249,435 2.15% 950,698 8.20%
Sri Lankan recent election results
2019 presidential election 2020 parliamentary election
Winners of polling divisions ■ SLPFA ■ SJB ■ TNA ■ SLFP ■ EPDP ■ Other parties
Elected members of each electoral district or municipality, gaining the highest number of votes

≈==Candidates==

Candidate Political office and constituency Endorsements Notes Ref.

Ranil Wickremesinghe (75)
Independent 		Current President of Sri Lanka (since 2022)
Leader of the United National Party (since 1994)
Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (1993–1994, 2001–2004, 2015–2018, 2018-2019, 2022) 		[4]

Sajith Premadasa (57)
Samagi Jana Balawegaya 		Current Leader of the Opposition (since 2019)
Leader of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (since 2020)
Colombo
  • Previously ran in 2019.
 [23]
File:Anura Kumara Dissanayaka.jpg
Anura Kumara Dissanayake (55)
National People's Power 		Former Minister and Chief Opposition Whip (2015–2018)
Leader of the National People's Power (since 2015)
Leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (since 2014)
Colombo
  • Previously ran in 2019.
 [24]

Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (73)
Independent 		18th Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (2005–2009)
Former Minister of Regional Development (2016–2018) and Minister of Wildlife and Sustainable Development (2018)
Gampaha
  • Previously ran in 2010.
 [25]

Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe (65)
National Democratic Front 		Former Minister of Justice (2022–2024)
Former Minister of Buddha Sasana (2015–2017), Minister of Higher Education (2018), Minister of Education (2018)
Colombo 		[26][27]
P. W. S. K. Bandaranayake
Jathika Sanwardhana Peramuna 		[28]
Nuwan Bopage
People's Struggle Alliance 		Human rights lawyer [30]
File:OshalaHerath.png Oshala Herath (47)
New Independent Front 		Social activist

Public Interest Litigant
CEO of the Lankan People
Chairman of New Independent Front

  • New Independent Front
 [31][32]

Siritunga Jayasuriya
United Socialist Party 		Perennial candidate [28]
border frameless
Dilith Jayaweera
Mawbima Janatha Pakshaya 		Chairman of the George Steuart Group, Derana Macro Entertainment (Television), Derana Macro Entertainment (Radio) and Liberty Publishers
Former Director of Citrus Leisure PLC, Colombo Land and Development PLC
Jt. Managing Director – Triad (Pvt) Ltd 		[34]
Sarath Keerthirathna (73)
Independent 		Former Deputy Minister
  • Previously ran in 2019.
 [35]
A. S. P. Liyanage
Sri Lanka Labour Party 		Perennial candidate [36]
K. K. Piyadasa
Independent 		[28]

Janaka Ratnayake (59)
Independent 		Former Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (2021–2023)
Chairman and CEO of Trillium Property Management & Services Limited (since 2014) 		[37]
Battaramulle Seelarathana Thero
Janasetha Peramuna 		Perennial candidate
  • Previously ran in 2010, 2015 and 2019.
 [38]
Ajantha de Zoysa
Ruhunu Janatha Party 		[28]

Declined

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna

Sri Lanka Freedom Party

Opinion polls

Nationwide

Date Polling firm Dissanayake
NPP 		Premadasa
SJB 		Wickremesinghe
UNP 		SLPP Lead Margin
of error 		Sample
size
June 2024 Institute for Health Policy 30% 43% 20% 7% 13 ±1–11% 18,213
May 2024 Institute for Health Policy 39% 38% 15% 7% 1 ±1–4% 17,751
April 2024 Institute for Health Policy 39% 39% 13% 9% Tie ±1–4% 17,134
March 2024 Institute for Health Policy 44% 41% 8% 7% 3 ±1–4% 16,661
February 2024 Institute for Health Policy 53% 34% 6% 7% 19 ±1–4% 16,234
January 2024 Institute for Health Policy 50% 36% 7% 7% 14 ±1–4% 15,590
December 2023 Institute for Health Policy 50% 33% 9% 8% 17 ±1–4% 14,941
October 2023 Institute for Health Policy 51% 30% 13% 6% 21 ±1–4% 13,935
September 2023 Institute for Health Policy 46% 29% 17% 8% 17 ±1–3% 13,431
August 2023 Institute for Health Policy 38% 35% 18% 9% 3 ±1–3% 12,848
July 2023 Institute for Health Policy 39% 33% 19% 9% 6 ±1–3% 12,269
June 2023 Institute for Health Policy 40% 35% 15% 9% 5 ±1–3% 11,926
May 2023 Institute for Health Policy 38% 34% 18% 10% 4 ±1–4% 11,897
April 2023 Institute for Health Policy 45% 37% 13% 6% 8 ±1–4% 11,367
March 2023 Institute for Health Policy 48% 37% 11% 4% 11 ±1–5% 10,601

Favourability ratings

January 2024

In IHP SLOTS polling, all major party candidates continued to have negative favourability ratings. The net favourability rating of NPP/JVP candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayaka increased by 12 points to -10 whilst the favourability ratings of SJB candidate Sajith Premadasa and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe each decreased by 9 points to -53 and -77 respectively.[43]

March 2024

In IHP SLOTS polling, net favourability rating of SJB leader Sajith Premadasa increased 30 points to -30 in March compared to the previous month while favourability ratings of NPP/JVP leader AK Dissanayake and Pres. Ranil Wickremasinghe remained relatively unchanged at -24 (-2) and -78 (+1) respectively.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ New Democratic Front candidate led by the United National Party
  2. ^ Not eligible to run for president due to being a dual citizen.

References

  1. ^ a b "Sri Lanka presidential election set for September 21 amid ailing economy". Al Jazeera. 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  2. ^ "Sri Lanka to hold presidential election on Sept. 21". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  3. ^ "Ranil to contest Presidential election, hints at poll early next year - Top Story | Daily Mirror". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 2023-04-08.
  4. ^ a b "Presidential Election: Bonds placed for Ranil to contest as independent candidate". Ada Derana. 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  5. ^ a b PTI. "President Ranil Wickremesinghe officially announces candidacy for Sri Lankan presidency". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  6. ^ Presidential Elections Act, No 15 of 1981
  7. ^ Gajanayake, Manjula; Siriwardana, Thusitha; Isuranga, Hirantha; Jayasinghe, Pasan (2019). "2019 Sri Lankan Presidential Election: Election Observation Report" (PDF). Centre for Monitoring Election Violence. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
  8. ^ "November Lanka polls to test India's presence in southern Indian Ocean region". Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury. The Economic Times. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
  9. ^ "Gotabaya Rajapaksa wins the election as Premadasa concedes defeat to the former". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  10. ^ "Sri Lanka: President Gotabaya has officially stepped down". Newsfirst. 15 July 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  11. ^ Ondaatjie, Anusha; Sirimanne, Asantha (12 July 2022). "Sri Lanka Latest: Parliament to Elect New President July 20". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 11 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  12. ^ Stepansky, Joseph (20 July 2022). "Sri Lanka live news: Ranil Wickremesinghe elected president". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Sri Lanka gets new President: Ranil Wickremesinghe". News First. 20 July 2022. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  14. ^ "Presidential Elections (Special Provisions) Act". LawNet. Parliament of Sri Lanka. 1981. Archived from the original on 21 July 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  15. ^ "2024 Presidential Election to be held on September 21". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  16. ^ "Dinesh leaves Rajapaksas and supports Ranil". Newswire. 2024-08-01. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  17. ^ "EPDP vows to support President at September Poll". www.dailynews.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  18. ^ "Dissident Sri Lanka ruling party group to back main opposition SJB: MP". EconomyNext. 2024-07-10. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  19. ^ "Dayasiri to back Sajith in Presidential Election". www.adaderana.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  20. ^ https://www.adaderana.lk/news/100989/slmc-to-offer-conditional-support-to-sajith-in-prez-poll
  21. ^ https://mawratanews.lk/news/kandura-janata-peramuna-has-decided-to-support-sajith-in-nuwara-eliya-radhakrishnan-tells-the-verdict-join-sjb-alliance-on-the-8th-i-sri-lanka-latest-news/
  22. ^ https://www.dailymirror.lk/top-story/SLFP-and-UPFA-faction-back-Sajith-Premadasa-in-Presidential-Election/155-288704
  23. ^ "Sajith Premadasa named as SJB Presidential Candidate". NewsWire. 2023-05-16. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
  24. ^ "JVP on the track before race is announced". Dailymirror. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  25. ^ "Sarath Fonseka to Contest Presidential Election". Newsfirst. 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  26. ^ "Sri Lanka's justice minister to run for president". EconomyNext. 2024-07-25. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  27. ^ "Former Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe places bond for Presidential Election". Newswire. 2024-08-01. Retrieved 2024-08-01.
  28. ^ a b c d "Four more candidates place election deposits; total now at 10 | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  29. ^ a b "Aragalaya activists, political parties launch political alliance - News | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  30. ^ "Nuwan Bopage named Presidential candidate of Aragalaya activists". Daily Mirror. 2024-07-29. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  31. ^ "Social activist Oshala Herath to contest Presidential Election". Newswire. 2024-06-25. Retrieved 2024-06-28.
  32. ^ "Details of Recognized Political Parties".
  33. ^ "Sarvajana Balaya to hold first political rally in Nugegoda today | Daily FT". www.ft.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  34. ^ "Dilith Jayaweera named 'Sarvajana Balaya' Presidential candidate - Breaking News | Daily Mirror". www.dailymirror.lk. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
  35. ^ "EC begins accepting deposits; Sarath Keerthirathna first to submit bond". Daily Mirror. 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  36. ^ "Four candidates place cash deposits for Sri Lanka's presidential election". EconomyNext. 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  37. ^ Siriwardana, Ajith (26 May 2023). "'All common candidates have failed, I will be people’s candidate': Janaka Ratnayake". DailyMirror. Retrieved on 26 May 2023.
  38. ^ malinga (2024-07-26). "Ven. Seelarathana forgets wallet, to return again to place bond". DailyNews. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  39. ^ "Rajapaksa to seek second term as Sri Lanka crisis deepens". France 24. 19 July 2021. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  40. ^ "Sri Lanka President Vows to Finish Term, Won't Run for Re-Election". Bloomberg.com. 6 June 2022.
  41. ^ "Basil will contest for President in 2024, says SLPPS Ranjith Bandara". 7 July 2021.
  42. ^ "Ex-Sri Lanka president Sirisena to run again; apologises to Catholics, compares self to Mandela". EconomyNext. 2023-01-31. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
  43. ^ "AK Dissanayake sees favourability ratings improve, but other party leaders see declines in January 2024". ihp.lk. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
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