Sri Lanka - 2024 Presidential Election
The election to elect Sri Lanka’s tenth president took place September 21, 2024. The May 31, 2024 voter registry lists 17,140,354 voters who will be eligible to vote in the election. The Election Commission of Sri Lanka (ECSL) will set up 13,134 polling centres across 22 electoral districts. The ECSL set the campaign expenditure limit at 109 rupees per voter, bringing the total allowable limit per candidate to 1,868,298,586 rupees, or about $6.2 million USD. For the 2024 presidential election, 712,321 citizens qualify for advance voting. The 38 candidates represent the largest number contesting a presidential election in Sri Lankan history. They include the incumbent president, the sons of two former presidents, a former commander of the army, former ministers representing a number of coalitions, and a scattering of candidates from breakaway factions. No women contested this election.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest or detention; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; transnational repression against individuals in another country; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including violence and threats of violence against journalists, unjustified arrests of journalists, and censorship; substantial interference with the freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of association, including overly restrictive laws on the organization, funding, or operation of nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations; inability of citizens to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections; serious government corruption; serious government restrictions on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations; extensive gender-based violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence and sexual violence; crimes involving violence targeting Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Tamils; laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, even if the laws were not enforced; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons.
During the year 2023, the government of Sri Lanka released on bail dozens of suspects held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Police also issued new guidelines to respect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex persons and stop arrest and harassment of transgender persons. In March the government indefinitely postponed local government elections, citing a lack of funds, and the terms of local councils across the country expired.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) allowed courts to admit as evidence any statements made by the accused at any time and provided no exception for confessions extracted by torture. In 2022, parliament amended the PTA to include judicial oversight to safeguard against torture but did not remove the clause allowing for the use of confessions made to police while in police custody. Human rights and civil society organizations alleged that torture and excessive use of force by police, particularly to extract confessions, remained endemic.
On November 8, Vaddukkottai police arrested Nagarasa Alex, age 25, for allegedly committing theft. Alex subsequently received hospital treatment on November 16 for injuries sustained from alleged police torture. A widely circulated video showed Alex describing the alleged police torture during a hospital interview. On November 19, police returned Alex to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital, where hospital staff later pronounced him dead.
Some Tamil and Muslim politicians, international organizations, and local human rights activists referred to PTA detainees including former Tamil-LTTE combatants, Muslims, and student activists accused of terrorism-related violent crimes as political prisoners, alleging they were held for their speech, advocacy, or criticism of the government.
Restrictions on hate speech were applied selectively, with hate speech against Muslims more tolerated than against other groups. There were also reports that authorities attempted to intimidate individuals who criticized the government, including through public statements, questioning by security officials, official visits at their homes, and arrests. On 06 January 2023, the CID arrested social media personality Sepal Amarasinghe for making insulting remarks regarding the Buddhist Temple of the Tooth Relic. He was held in pretrial detention until February 21, when a court dropped the case against him. On 28 May 2023, police arrested stand-up comedian Nathasha Edirisooriya on charges of insulting Buddhism
There were reports of harassment and intimidation of journalists covering sensitive topics. Some journalists including citizen journalists, reported harassment, threats, intimidation, and interference from members of state security services, especially when reporting on topics related to the civil war or its aftermath, including missing persons. Tamil journalists reported military officers requested copies of photographs, lists of attendees at events, and names of sources for articles. They also reported the military directly requested that journalists refrain from reporting on sensitive events, such as Tamil war commemorations or land occupation protests, as well as on posting anything related to former LTTE leaders, and that they feared repercussions if they did not cooperate.
While some online commentators reported occasionally self-censoring because of fears of harassment, threats, and intimidation, more journalists seemed concerned with whether antigovernment reporting might be rejected by publishers who feared losing advertising revenue controlled by the government.
The constitution restricted the freedom of assembly in the interest of religious harmony, national security, public order, or the protection of public health or morality. Freedom of peaceful assembly also might be restricted in the interest of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others or in the interest of meeting the just requirements of the general welfare of a democratic society. Under a police ordinance, protesters were required to seek permission from local police before holding a protest.
Civil society reported allegations of monitoring, surveillance, intimidation, and harassment of civil society organizations, religious organizations, human rights defenders, and families of victims of rights violations. Harassment included repeated visits by the Counterterrorism Investigation Division (TID), the CID, and other state security services, which questioned organizations regarding their staff, finances, and activities. Human rights activists alleged unknown actors believed to be state security officials would call them, issuing threats, alleging staffers had supported terrorism, or suggesting the activists were being surveilled.
The terms of all local councils expired in March 2023, and the central government took control of local administration. As of the end of October, local government elections continued to be indefinitely postponed. Elections for provincial councils, the second tier of government below parliament, also remained indefinitely postponed with all provincial councils defunct since 2018. The most recent national elections, held in 2020, were reported to be fair and free of abuses and irregularities. In 2022, parliament, via a secret ballot vote, elected Ranil Wickremesinghe as president to complete the term of resigned president Gotabaya Rajapaksa through 2024. The vote by parliament to elect Wickremesinghe as president after Rajapaksa’s resignation followed procedures outlined in the constitution.
The 2024 presidential election was the first election in which people will be given the opportunity to go to the polls since the nationwide protest movement (Aragalaya) in 2022, which spurred the resignation of former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Local government and provincial council elections were due to take place before the presidential election but have been delayed indefinitely.
Following former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation in July 2022, Ranil Wickremesinghe was indirectly elected by a parliamentary vote on July 20, 2022, to complete the former president’s term. In this context, the future of the economy and the reduction of the cost of living remain key campaign themes. Many see the election as a choice between the continuation of existing policies and leaders and the introduction of new leadership and approaches.
Namal Rajapaksa, the eldest son of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa (who served from 2005 to 2015) will be the youngest candidate. He represents the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, a breakaway faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. President Wickremesinghe, who entered Parliament through the United National Party (UNP), is contesting as an independent candidate. Most of the other major candidates represent political coalitions. Sajith Premadasa, the son of former president Ranasinghe Premadasa, is the leader of the opposition and was the runner-up in the last presidential election. He is contesting under Samagi Jana Balawegaya, a breakaway coalition of the UNP, the party represented by his father. Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the National People’s Power has gained ground over the past year as an alternate political force. He is the leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People’s Liberation Front), a Marxist-Leninist party that led two revolutionary movements in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 1980s.
Under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, passed in April 2015, a president may be elected no more than twice for five-year terms. Previously, the presidential term was six years.
Sri Lanka uses a supplementary voting system through which voters elect a single winner by ranking up to three candidates in order of preference. For a vote to be valid it must be clearly marked to indicate at least one preference. In practice, the Election Commission of Sri Lanka (ECSL) accepts other markings (e.g., an X or check mark) in favor of a first preference candidate, as long as the intent is clear. The ECSL does not normally accept a combination of markings and numbers in favor of multiple candidates.
If a candidate receives an absolute majority (50 percent plus one) of valid votes cast as a first preference, he or she will be declared the winner. If there is no winner at this stage, a second round of counting takes place. This round includes only the two candidates who received the highest number of votes; all others are eliminated. If an eliminated ballot paper contains a second or a third choice vote for one of the remaining two candidates, it is counted in the candidate’s favor. The candidate with the most overall votes in the second round of counting is then declared the winner.
In past elections, one candidate has always emerged as a clear winner based on first preference votes, and no election has progressed to the counting of second or third preferences. Therefore, it is not known how many voters use the second and third preference option. Anecdotal evidence L suggests that the number is small, and that voters’ awareness of the second and third preference option is limited.
The Election Commission of Sri Lanka maintains a continuous voter list that it updates every four months to add voters who turn 18. An annual door-to-door manual enumeration updates the voter registry; online registration has also been made possible. As of the latest update of the voter list, finalized on August 5, 2024, 17,140,354 voters are registered in Sri Lanka. The smallest of the 22 electoral districts is Vanni, with 306,081 voters; the largest is Gampaha, with 1,881,129 voters. Colombo district has 1,765,351 voters.
Marxist-leaning lawmaker, Anura Kumar Dissanayake, won the presidential election on promises of helping the poor and stamping out corruption in a country where an economic meltdown two years ago led to a resounding cry for systemic change. It represented a major shift in the politics of the South Asian country, which rejected mainstream political parties that have governed the country for decades. Dissanayake, 55, known for his pro-working class stance, heads a left-leaning coalition, the National People’s Power. His own party, the JVP, which was once a fringe, radical group, holds only three seats in the 225-member parliament and has not been part of the political mainstream.
Political analysts say widespread disillusionment with established political parties catapulted Dissanayake to the top post. “This victory belongs to all of us” Dissanayake wrote in a post on X. “We stand ready to rewrite Sri Lankan history." About 17% of the country 17.1 million voters cast ballots in the election.
"We believe that we can turn this country around, we can build a stable government,” Dissanayake told reporters. “For me this is not a position, it is a responsibility." He emerged the winner following a historic second round of counting after none of the three leading candidates secured the 50% plus one vote required to secure an outright victory in the initial count. He had secured 42% of the votes cast in the first count.
Dissanayake’s alliance is made up of different groups that include political parties, youth, civil society and women’s groups and trade unions. It is centered on the working class. “We have rejected the old-school parties. I am overjoyed, this is what we need.” said tour guide Hasitha Vishwa. “For us, the younger generation, Dissanayake is a symbol of non-corruption. Previous politicians were too corrupt.”
The coming months could see a dramatic change in Sri Lanka’s political landscape. Dissanayake has promised to dissolve parliament after taking power to seek a fresh mandate for his policies in general elections. It is the first time that a country that has adopted free-market policies for over five decades, will have a government with a left-leaning ideology.
Popularly known as AKD, the firebrand politician, presented himself as the candidate who will clean up the country’s politics — the demand made by tens of thousands of protestors two years ago when they stormed the presidential palace and ousted former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Protestors had blamed entrenched corruption and mismanagement for the country’s economic collapse.
Incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe was praised for stabilizing the economy and bringing it back from the brink of bankruptcy, but was blamed by many for failing to address concerns about corruption and protecting the country’s Rajapaksa political dynasty. He was eliminated from the second count after winning only 17% of the vote. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa won 32% of the vote. "History will judge my efforts, but I can confidently say that I did my best to stabilize the country during one of its darkest periods," Wickremesinghe said in a statement.
Political analysts said that while the demand for change has swept Dissanayake to victory, a country whose economic future is at stake, is entering uncharted territory. “He is basically untested. He is a new kid on the block,” according to Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director at the Center for Policy Alternatives. “We don’t know what his team is and whether they will have the expertise and experience to deal with the challenges that confront the country.”
Dissanayake now faces the daunting task of delivering on the primary concern for many voters — easing the hardship that millions grapple with due to spiraling costs of living. Tough economic reforms imposed after the country secured a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund to rescue its economy from bankruptcy have led to higher prices of essentials like food and fuel. Many in the country were pushed into poverty or saw their living standards plummet. “Yes, he has promised to ease the burden on people due to austerity measures, but the key question is where will the money come from,” questioned analyst Paikiasothy.
Dissanayake has said he will adhere to the $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout package and repayment of the country’s debt, which is critical to build on the fragile economic recovery that took place in the last two years. But he has pledged to renegotiate the terms of the IMF deal to make austerity measures more bearable by lowering taxes. “It will be a sea change for Sri Lanka. A lot of people are excited about the prospect and a lot of people are worried about that prospect,” said Alan Keenan, Senior Consultant, Sri Lanka, at the International Crisis Group.
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