Ranil Wickremesinghe, acting President of Sri Lanka, and Sajith Premadasa are among the four candidates to run for the Presidency of the country. The Presidential elections are expected to be held on Wednesday, July 20 in light of the biggest crisis in the history of the nation.
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On Tuesday, the Parliament held a meeting to accept the candidacy for the country's Presidency, as the port has remained vacant after Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country in the middle of mass riots against his government for the economic crisis, resigning from the post.
Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake and former Minister of Mass Media Dullas Alahapperuma are the other two candidates to be elected as Rajapaksa’s successor.
Last Saturday, the Parliament met for a brief special session intended to announce the vacancy in the presidency post for the remaining period of the vacant term, until November 2024, after the resignation of Gotabaya was made public.
The South Asian country has been suffering its worst economic crisis since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1948. The effects of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict have worsened the situation in Sri Lanka, which has paved the way for high inflation in the prices of raw materials and goods.