Sri Lanka: Three frontrunners in race to become next president after Gotabaya resigned

After the current president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, left the nation this week, three candidates are fighting to become the next leader of Sri Lanka: a six-time prime minister, the head of the largest opposition party, and a journalist-turned-politician from the ruling party. Now that Gotabaya has resigned, the speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament will call the assembly to order, and its 225 members will vote to choose a new president, most likely the following week. The victorious candidate must obtain a simple majority in parliament in addition to the support of hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans who took part in the anti-Rajapaksa protest movement, known as the "Aragalaya" or "battle" in Sinhala.

Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was elected acting president in May and became prime minister for the sixth time, is one among the candidates for the top position, according to two political sources.
Despite having just one seat in parliament, Wickremesinghe's party is supported by some members of the country's ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), including the president's brother Basil Rajapaksa, according to the sources. Wickremesinghe participated in negotiations with the IMF for a bailout package and a new budget. But hundreds of protestors, who engaged in physical altercations with security personnel and occupied the politician's office this week, continue to hold a strong dislike for the 73-year-old.

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Another candidate is Sajith Premadasa, the 55-year-old leader of the main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party. But since there are only about 50 members of parliament, he will need to cultivate bipartisan support if he wants to succeed. Following the 1993 suicide attack that killed his father, President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Premadasa attended the London School of Economics and entered politics. He became a member of parliament in 2000 and later served as Sri Lanka's deputy minister of health. He was named minister of cultural affairs and housing building in 2018.

Dullas Alahapperuma, a prominent politician from the SLPP who has received support from some of his party's members, is the third front-runner and probable dark horse. According to SLPP MP Charitha Herath, the ruling party has roughly 117 votes that might be used to support a candidate like the 63-year-old former journalist and get him elected. After demonstrators besieged President Rajapaksa's private residence in April, Alahapperuma, who was elected to parliament in 1994, resigned as the minister of mass media and the spokesperson for the administration.

(with inputs from agencies)

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