Colombo, Sep 17 (IANS) Urging people in the Colombo district to cast their vote in favour of Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) party, Colombo MP Harsha de Silva on Tuesday said that the island nation stands at crossroads right now and the September 21 Presidential election could well decide the future of the country.
“On September 21, we choose our future. Will we embrace reform and progress, or stay trapped in the past? Sajith Premadasa and Samagi Jana Balawegaya have a clear vision: an advanced social market economy that lifts all Sri Lankans. Choose wisely,” said de Silva.
In a video message, the noted Lankan economist and politician who has been a former Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution, acknowledged that reviving a fallen economy would be the biggest challenge faced by the candidate who wins this week’s election.
“The greatest challenge in the coming years, in comparison to the past, is to drive economic growth and deliver its benefits to our people. Our leader, Sajith Premadasa, has entrusted me with a significant part of this challenge,” he remarked.
Requesting people of the Colombo district to cast their vote in favour of Premadasa, de Silva mentioned that the SJB leader is the only person who can overcome the situation as he is the “only candidate” who has forwarded a team, a plan and a timeframe to resolve the issues.
A total of 39 candidates will be contesting the September 21 presidential election in Sri Lanka, the first after the island nation’s worst-ever economic crisis.
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Marxist leader Anura Dissanayake are considered as the front-runners to the election.
Out of the total population of around 22 million, 17.1 Lankans are eligible to vote in the upcoming election. This includes 1.2 million new voters.
In the 2019 election, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was elected as the President after recording a landslide victory.
However, a severe economic crisis after the Covid pandemic – along with several shortsighted decisions – led to a major economic crisis in the country with severe shortages of basic essentials like food, fuel, medicine and cooking gas.
Widespread protests and violence forced Gotabaya to flee the country in July 2022 with several other members in the Rajapaksas family also going into hiding.
As he left, Gotabaya invited Wickremesinghe to take over the country with the support of nearly 60 per cent SLPP majority in the parliament.
Having gradually controlled the economic crisis, Wickremesinghe asked SLPP to support him in the upcoming Presidential Election but the Rajapaksas accused the President of dividing their party and denied any support.
Later, Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former President and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, also entered Sri Lanka’s Presidential election race.
— IANS
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