Sri Lanka's Parliament votes today for new president as alliances shift
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COLOMBO • A three-way contest has emerged for Sri Lanka's next president with two of the candidates linked to factions in former leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa's party, suggesting that the powerful clan will have some influence over the new government.
The 225-seat Parliament votes today to choose the new president, who will lead efforts to address the country's economic and political collapse.
A lawmaker from Mr Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Party (SLPP) nominated Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe for the post in a special parliamentary session yesterday.
The proposal was then seconded by an opposition Member of Parliament in a sign of shifting alliances.
Mr Wickremesinghe's main competitor in the race is the SLPP's Mr Dullas Alahapperuma, who was nominated by opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.
Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris, who is from the SLPP, seconded the nomination.
The next president needs to win 50 per cent of the votes cast, or 113 in Parliament if all lawmakers submit their ballots this morning.
A third contender, left-leaning lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake, joined the fray from the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna.
"The Rajapaksas are more aligned with Ranil as there is a sense he is more able to protect their interests," said Ms Bhavani Fonseka, a senior researcher at the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives.
She said Mr Dullas, on the other hand, is closer to Mr Rajapaksa's elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down in May as prime minister following violent protests.
"Either way, whoever wins, the SLPP and the Rajapaksas will have some sway," she added.
Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Singapore last week and resigned as president following months-long protests over Sri Lanka's worst economic crisis of its independent history.
It is now a numbers game for Mr Wickremesinghe and Mr Alahapperuma in Parliament.
Mr Wickremesinghe returned as a lawmaker after the 2020 parliamentary elections through a system where parties with enough votes can nominate a member under the "national list".
Still, he appears to have the backing of the majority of the SLPP.
Mr Alahapperuma seems to have the support of a small but growing faction within the SLPP along with an assortment of minor parties.
Mr Premadasa attempted to stack the numbers away from Mr Wickremesinghe by withdrawing from the presidential race and giving his support to Mr Alahapperuma with the understanding that he would be nominated as prime minister.
In the run-up to the presidential race, Mr Alahapperuma has called for a new government that includes all parties, to put an end to "deceitful political culture".
It remains crucial that any new president appeal to the protesters who have taken to the streets of the bankrupt nation for months.
Mr Wickremesinghe remains deeply unpopular with them.
His whereabouts have been unknown since demonstrators set his private home on fire this month.
He has also imposed a nationwide emergency, blaming "fascist" elements for escalating tensions in the country.
It is not clear if Mr Alahapperuma will find favour either since he also has links to the Rajapaksas.
International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva had said talks with Sri Lanka could proceed "quite quickly" as soon as a new government is in place, which could pave the way for a bailout.
BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
The three contenders
Ranil Wickremesinghe, 73
A lawyer by training, Mr Wickremesinghe has been prime minister six times since he was first elected to the legislature in the late 1970s.
He had an unbroken streak in Parliament until 2020, when his United National Party was trounced after the Easter Sunday bombings.
Known to be a political survivor, Mr Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister by ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in May.
His status as a pro-West, free-market reformist could smooth bailout negotiations with the International Monetary Fund and foreign creditors, but he has already warned that there will be no quick fix to the nation's unprecedented economic woes.
Backed by a faction of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), he has allies across party lines. Yet, he is not immune to the anger on the streets and protesters burned down his private residence.
Dullas Alahapperuma, 63
Mr Alahapperuma is a former journalist who entered Parliament in 1994.
He has served as the minister of mass media and a Cabinet spokesman under former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
He is an ally of the former president's brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who served as president for a decade - from 2005 to 2015 - and became premier in Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government before being forced to resign in May.
He entered politics when he won a provincial seat in 1993, eventually serving as provincial minister for cultural affairs.
He has been with the SLPP and has been party leader for his home base of Matara in southern Sri Lanka since 2016.
The five-time lawmaker has the support of an SLPP faction.
Anura Kumara Dissanayake, 53
Mr Dissanayake is leader of the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), or People's Liberation Front, which has three parliamentary seats.
The leftist leader has served as minister for agriculture, livestock, lands and irrigation and has been in Parliament since 2000. In an interview with Sri Lankan newspaper Daily Mirror, Mr Dissanayake has spoken of asking rich Sri Lankans living overseas to invest in the country and reviving agriculture amid various other steps to stave off the economic crisis.
In 2019, he stood as the presidential candidate of the National People's Power movement - a broad alliance of civil society organisations, intellectuals and political parties, including the JVP - but lost the election.
REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG
