Sri Lanka’s former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is escorted by prison and police officials as he leaves the Magistrate’s Court in Colombo, Sri Lanka, August 22, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

READ MORE

Sri Lanka’s former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is escorted by prison and police officials as he leaves the Magistrate’s Court in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on August 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

READ MORE

Vijitha Herath receives a document from Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake after being sworn-in as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment, and Tourism during the swearing-in ceremony of the new Cabinet in Colombo on November 18, 2024. Photo: Sri Lanka President’s Media Division via AFP

On the morning of November 16, 2024, I was following the final tally of preferential votes secured by candidates in Sri Lanka’s recent general elections. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won a historic mandate of more than a two-thirds majority. Vijitha Herath, the NPP candidate in Colombo’s neighbouring Gampaha district, broke records by winning more than 7 lakh votes. He has been named Foreign Minister in the new government.

At the same time, a memory popped up on my social media. It was a short video clip of my interview with Mr. Herath six years ago. On November 16, 2018, Mr. Herath was among those injured when some people in the Rajapaksa camp violently attacked Members of Parliament who were challenging the sudden appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister in place of Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had been abruptly sacked by President Maithripala Sirisena. Sri Lanka was in the grip of a political impasse for some seven weeks until the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Sirisena’s move was illegal, and Mr. Wickremesinghe was reinstated.

In a fascinating coincidence, Mr. Herath, who in 2018 was a legislator with the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), made headlines the same day six years later as part of a new political force that has decimated the island’s old political class, including the Rajapaksas, Mr. Sirisena, and Mr. Wickremesinghe.

It is as if decades happened in these six years in Sri Lanka. During this time, the island witnessed the deadly Easter Sunday serial blasts in April 2019, the election victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in November 2019, the pandemic from 2020, Mr. Gotabaya’s mighty fall in July 2022 in the wake of a crippling economic crisis and a citizens’ uprising, and now, the meteoric rise of Mr. Dissanayake and his political alliance. The near-erasure from Sri Lanka’s electoral map of the country’s traditional, once-powerful political parties and the political elite that controlled them signals a tectonic shift.

While polls are exciting news events for the media, reporters learn a lot more while covering what happens between elections. What seems a “tectonic” electoral shift is often the cumulative effect of many complex political changes on the ground, invariably tethered to how most people in a country are doing. As reporters, we have a distinct advantage. We don’t have to predict precise poll outcomes; all we need to do is listen to diverse voices to try and capture voter sentiment in our coverage.

Invariably, this sort of ground reporting allows us to glean some clear pointers to a likely poll outcome, even if not the extent of someone’s win. Both the defeat of Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015 and the victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2019 were not entirely surprising for many of us who report from Sri Lanka. That said, there are specific results that surprise us at times, either because our reading was biased or simply wrong. Either way, there is incentive to return to good, old-fashioned reporting.

In the case of the NPP’s victory in Sri Lanka’s recent election, the story, in a sense, began in 2018. With just six MPs in the 225-member House then, the JVP made compelling interventions in Parliament, besides moving the Supreme Court with others against Mr. Sirisena’s anti-democratic, unconstitutional move. The NPP was set up the following year as a counter to the political establishment, which was tainted by allegations of serious corruption and nepotism. Not long after, the country witnessed an unprecedented mass struggle in 2022, staggering in its magnitude and intensity. The headless citizens’ movement did what the political opposition couldn’t: eject the powerful Rajapaksas from office. Two years later, the NPP is in power now, with 159 out of the 225 members in the new Parliament convened on November 21.

meera.srinivasan@thehindu.co.in

Watch: What does Dissanayake’s victory mean for Sri Lanka and India? | Realpolitik

In many ways, it was a crucial election for Sri Lanka. It was the first election since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was booted out of power by a popular uprising in July 2022. It was an election that was largely fought on economic issues. It was an election where the Rajapksas, the family that dominated Sri Lanka’s politics for years, were not a significant factor–Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, was one of the 38 candidates but was never seen as a frontrunner.

The fight was largely between three candidates — incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, who assumed presidency after Gotabaya fled the country in 2022; opposition leader Sajith Premadasa, and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, a party with Marxist origins.

While Wickremesinghe and Premadasa represented the old establishment, Dissanayake, a leftist who had earlier said what Sri Lanka wanted was a liberation struggle not just a regime change, pitched himself as an agent of change–the original promise of ‘Janatha Aragalaya (or People’s struggle), the mass movement that bought down the Rajapaksas. He promised to fix island nation’s battered economy and wipe out racism. His outsider image and promise to break from the past seemed to have helped him win the trust of Sri Lanka’s voters and script history. On September 23, two days after his election victory, Dissanayake was sworn in as the new President of Sri Lanka.

Stanly Johny and Meera Srinivasan discuss Dissanayake’s victory and the challenges he faces both on the domestic and foreign policy front.

Production: Aniket Singh Chauhan

Video: Johan Sathyadas, Shiva Raj

National People’s Power leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake secures Presidential victory in Sri Lanka Presidential election 2024 on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: AP

Sri Lanka’s election commission declared a previously fringe politician the country’s president-elect on Sunday (September 22, 2024) after a vote coloured by discontent over the island nation’s response to an unprecedented financial crisis.

“Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the 55-year-old leader of the People’s Liberation Front, won the presidency with 42.31% of the vote in Saturday’s election,” the commission said.

Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa took second place with 32.76%. Outgoing President Ranil Wickremesinghe — who took office at the peak of the 2022 economic collapse and imposed tough austerity policies per the terms of an IMF bailout — took a distant third with 17.27%.

Mr. Wickremesinghe has yet to concede, but Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said it was clear that Mr. Dissanayake had won.

“Though I heavily campaigned for President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the people of Sri Lanka have made their decision, and I fully respect their mandate for Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Mr. Sabry said on social media.

“Dissanayake will be sworn in on Monday (September 23, 2024)morning at the colonial-era President Secretariat in Colombo,” election commission officials said.

IMF deal

Economic issues dominated the eight-week campaign, with widespread public anger over the hardships endured since the peak of the crisis two years ago.

“Dissanayake would “not tear up” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal but would seek to modify it,” a party politburo member told AFP.

“It is a binding document, but there is a provision to renegotiate,” said Bimal Ratnayake.

He said Mr. Dissanayake had pledged to reduce income taxes that were doubled by Wickremesinghe and slash sales taxes on food and medicines.

“We think we can get those reductions into the programme and continue with the four-year bailout programme,” he said.

Mr. Dissanayake’s once-marginal Marxist party led two failed uprisings in the 1970s and 1980s that left more than 80,000 people dead.

It won less than four percent of the vote during the most recent parliamentary elections in 2020.

But Sri Lanka’s crisis has proven an opportunity for Mr. Dissanayake, who has seen a surge of support based on his pledge to change the island’s “corrupt” political culture. “Our country needs a new political culture,” he said after casting his ballot on Saturday (September 21, 2024) .

Around 76% of Sri Lanka’s 17.1 million eligible voters cast ballots in Saturday’s (September 21, 2024) poll.

Mr. Dissanayake’s party sought to reassure India that any administration he led would not be caught up in geopolitical rivalry between its northern neighbour and China, the country’s largest lender.

New Delhi has expressed concerns over what it sees as Beijing’s growing influence in Sri Lanka, which sits on vital shipping lanes criss-crossing the Indian Ocean.

“Sri Lankan territory will not be used against any other nation,” Mr. Ratnayake told AFP. “We are fully aware of the geopolitical situation in our region, but we will not participate,” he added.

Austerity rejected

Mr. Wickremesinghe sought re-election to continue belt-tightening measures that stabilised the economy and ended months of food, fuel and medicine shortages during Sri Lanka’s economic meltdown.

His two years in office restored calm to the streets after civil unrest spurred by the downturn saw thousands storm the compound of his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who then fled the country.

But Mr. Wickremesinghe’s tax hikes and other measures imposed under the $2.9 billion IMF bailout he secured last year left millions struggling to make ends meet.

Official data showed that Sri Lanka’s poverty rate doubled to 25% between 2021 and 2022, adding more than 2.5 million people to those already living on less than $3.65 a day.

Thousands of police were deployed to keep watch over voting on Saturday (September 22, 2024).

A temporary curfew was imposed after polls closed, despite police reporting that there had been no violence during or after balloting. No victory rallies or celebrations are permitted until a week after the final results are declared.

People wait in a queue to cast their votes at a polling center during the Presidential election on the outskirts of Colombo, Sri Lanka on Saturday (September 21, 2024).
| Photo Credit: AP

Sri Lankans gave their mandate to the country’s next leader in a peacefully held Presidential election on Saturday (September 21, 2024). The outcome of the critical election, expected on Sunday (September 22, 2024), is watched closely as the island nation navigates a challenging phase of economic recovery following a crushing crisis two years ago.

While an announcement of the official voter turnout is awaited, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, a local election observer group, said it was likely to be in the range of 75% to 80%. The last Presidential election in 2019 saw a record voter turnout of 83.72%.

The election assumes significance, for it is the first time citizens had a say in determining the country’s leadership after a historic people’s uprising in 2022 forced former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee the country and quit office, at the height of the crippling meltdown.

Departing from past Presidential polls that had two main candidates and one clear winner, this election was marked by a three-way contest. Senior politician and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who replaced Mr. Gotabaya through a parliamentary vote in 2022, sought a mandate to continue his project of reviving the country’s battered economy. His main rivals from the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, ran on a plank of “change”, offering relief from the burden of the government’s ongoing, IMF-led reform programme.

‘Honest President’

Sarojini Kadirgamar (97) turned up early on Saturday (September 21, 2024) at the College House, a more-than-a-century-old building serving as the administrative block of the University of Colombo, in an upmarket neighbourhood in the capital city. “Today will be the last time I am called upon to do my civic duty. I am voting for an honest President who will end corruption, because all the mantras that put our economy right will count for nothing if we are not honest and corruption-free. We must respect the rule of law; there must be justice for all the citizens of this country,” she said.

In a reference to the lingering inequality felt by the country’s Tamil minority, Ms. Kadirgamar, who has seen every national election since Independence, said, “In other countries, an immigrant is allowed to be President. In this country, [you can’t] unless you are Sinhala Buddhist… even if you are a Tamil who has served this country well, it is not accepted. So, I want someone who will respect the rule of law and the Supreme Court and rule us justly and correctly, the Buddhist way.”

Eliminating corruption has been a running theme for voters ahead of this election. It takes off from a popular chant during the mass agitations of 2022, when citizens blamed the “corrupt” political establishment for their misery and demanded a “system change” so the country could course-correct.

Citizens contending with the enduring impact of the crisis are emphatic about the need for change at the country’ helm. The country’s economic woes have not ended, said Azar, a voter. “See the long lines of people waiting at the passport office [hoping to leave the country for jobs elsewhere] … it is clear that the problems are still there and there is no relief. We need a good leader to come and address our problems,” he said, outside a polling station in Maradana, a Colombo suburb.

The Election Commission of Sri Lanka said counting of postal votes began on Saturday (September 21, 2024) evening, and the final result would likely be out on Sunday (September 22, 2024). A candidate needs to secure 50% plus one vote to be declared the winner. If no candidate garners a majority, which is more likely in a three-cornered race, authorities will undertake a second round of counting, to determine the preferential votes secured by the top two candidates, and add it to their respective count.

In Sri Lanka’s preferential voting system, voters get to mark three candidates on the ballot indicating their order of preference. No election outcome in the past has warranted a second round of counting.

People stand in a queue to vote at a polling station during the presidential election in Colombo, Sri Lanka, September 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Polls opened on Saturday (September 21, 2024) in Sri Lanka’s crucial presidential election — the island nation’s first major electoral exercise since its worst economic meltdown in 2022.

Some 17 million people are eligible to vote at over 13,400 polling stations.

Over 200,000 officials have been deployed to conduct the election which will be guarded by 63,000 police personnel. Voting started at 7 a.m. and will continue till 5 p.m. Results are expected by Sunday. Voters will choose among 38 presidential candidates.

Also read: Follow Sri Lanka Presidential poll LIVE updates

With Sri Lankans heading to polls, here are 5 reasons why this election is different:

Three-cornered race:

All past presidential polls in the island nation had two main candidates and one certain winner. This is the first time three candidates are at the fore. Incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe, Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa, and popular opposition legislator Anura Kumara Dissanayake are in what appears a close race for the country’s top office.

Substantially altered political landscape:

The country’s two traditional parties — the centre-left Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the centre-right United National Party (UNP) — have been decimated over the last few years. Their breakaway formations have detached themselves from the parent parties. The National People’s Power (NPP) Alliance, led by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP or People’s Liberation Front), has emerged as a prominent third front, vowing to shake up the old political establishment.

Although Mr. Wickremesinghe is from and still leads the UNP, he is running as an independent candidate this election.

Mr. Premadasa, who was earlier Deputy Leader of the UNP, now leads the main Opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB or United People’s Front), that broke away from the UNP some years ago.

Mr. Dissanayake has been fielded by the NPP alliance, which is a broad social coalition with the JVP as its core constituent. The JVP is a political party with Marxist-Leninist origins that has led two armed insurrections of Sinhalese youth against the state in the 1970s and 1980s.

A possible second round of counting

Sri Lanka follows a preferential voting system that allows voters to mark three preferences on the ballot. A candidate must secure 50% plus one vote to be declared winner. If no candidate garners the majority vote share, a second count of votes will be used to pick the winner. The preferential votes received by the top two candidates will be factored in, and the contestant who gets the highest number of votes will be named the winner. All past presidential elections in Sri Lanka have yielded a clear winner, ruling out the need for a second vote count. However, in a closely fought three-cornered race, securing over 50 % of the mandate may prove hard for any candidate, necessitating a second round of counting of votes, for the first time in Sri Lanka’s election history.

Economy displaces ethnic issue as central poll plank

The island nation’s last few elections were dominated by promises of “eradicating terrorism” (the country’s three decade-long civil war ended in 2009), and pledges of delivering “good governance”, or “national security”. However, economic concerns have taken centre stage this election, the first to be held after the country experienced a crushing economic crisis in 2022. Candidates have sought to address widespread anger over corruption, and the loud call from citizens to eliminate it.

People’s issues, not personalities, matter

After a mass uprising ousted President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office in 2022, the Rajapaksa clan that dominated Sri Lankan politics for some two decades has been forced into political retreat. Although Namal

Colombo:
A day before Sri Lanka votes for the next President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who currently occupies the post spoke to NDTV. During the interview, he spoke about his country’s special bond with India and how he aims to strengthen ties, if re-elected.

Here are his top 5 quotes on India-Sti Lanka relations:

Colombo:

Sri Lanka, which is slowly recovering from its worst-ever economic crisis, will vote to elect the next President on Saturday. The cash-strapped island nation is currently being led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is seeking a re-election to continue with bold reforms to help revive the economy.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, is seeking a fresh mandate after claiming credit for stabilising the economy and bringing an end to months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

In 2022, when Ranil Wickremesinghe took charge as President, Sri Lanka was dealing with civil unrest spurred by the economic crisis. There were protests across the nation which led to thousands storming the Presidential palace which was then occupied by Mr Wickremesinghe’s predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country. Mr Wickremesinghe took charge and restored calm and helped revived the economy by taking some tough decisions.

The 2024 election is key to deciding the future of reforms in the economically fragile nation.

Speaking with NDTV, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Thursday that his vision for future ties with India holds a stronger economic relationship. “We want to encourage more investments from India and more tourists from India. We are working together with India on infrastructure projects like the Trincomalee Harbour,” he said.

“I took over as President when the country was in utter chaos and no one thought we could stabilise this fast. But I knew from experience that we could go ahead provided we had the support of the International Monetary Fund and our creditors,” the President said, adding that “I have ensured we come back to normalcy. Law and order is functioning, democracy is functioning and although we have stabilised the economy, now we have to decide our path. Are we going to get into the same old ways or are we working towards (building) a strong export economy? I have asked for a mandate to go ahead.”

However, Mr Wickremesinghe faces a tough electoral battle from two contenders. In total, President Wickremesinghe is among 38 candidates contesting Sri Lanka’s presidential election.

This year’s election is dominated by two major alliances, the SJB (Samagi Jana Balawegaya) and the NPP (National People’s Power), apart from various smaller parties and independent candidates.

Here are the 5 main contenders in the 2024 Sri Lanka Elections:

75-year-old Ranil Wickremesinghe is a lawyer who has served as prime minister for a record six times. His party holds only one seat in parliament and will need to drum up support from key parties to bolster his chances.

As the leader of the United National Party or UNP, he took office in July 2022 after widespread protests unleashed by the debilitating financial crisis forced his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa to flee Sri Lanka and later resign.

The Sri Lankan Parliament elected Ranil Wickremesinghe to serve out the rest of the five-year term of Mr Rajapaksa, who took office in 2019.

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s re-election bid failed to get formal backing from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the party with the most seats in the 225-member parliament, but the support of more than 90 lawmakers puts him in strong position. He is contesting as an independent candidate.

The 57 year-old Opposition leader and son of former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, he leads the Samagi Jana Balawegaya or SJB that separated from Mr Wickremesinghe’s UNP in 2020.

His centrist, more left-leaning party has called for changes to the $2.9 billion bailout programme with the International Monetary Fund and outlined plans to adjust some targets, such as changing taxes to reduce the cost of living.

Premadasa favours a mix of interventionist and free-market economic policies.

The 55-year-old leader, who holds just three seats in parliament, stands for tough anti-corruption measures and pro-poor policies have given a popular boost to his candidacy.

He will contest under the National People’s Power or NPP coalition, which includes his Marxist-leaning party People’s Liberation Front or PLF. His party has traditionally backed stronger state intervention and more closed market economic policies.

A pre-election opinion survey showed Mr Dissanayake was leading in voting preferences at 36%, followed by Mr Premadasa and Mr Wickremesinghe at third.

The 38-year-old leader is a scion of the powerful Rajapaksa family that produced two presidents – his father Mahinda and uncle Gotabaya – Namal is a surprise entrant, as the candidate of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna or SLPP, founded by another uncle, Basil.

He faces the daunting task of keeping the party unified to counter Mr Wickremesinghe’s chances of winning.

40-year-old Nuwan Bopage is the presidential candidate of the Peoples’ Struggle Alliance or PSA. He hopes to tap into the remnants of the massive people’s uprising that deposed Gotabaya Rajapaksa two years ago.

He has taken a strong anti-corruption stance, backs more pro-poor policies and opposes Sri Lanka’s alignment with the IMF programme.
 

The political landscape in Sri Lanka is set to change as its citizens elect a new President on Saturday. Sri Lanka’s 17 million voters will choose from among 39 candidates in the country’s first election after the people’s uprising of 2022, which led to then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster.

This year’s election is dominated by two major alliances, the SJB (Samagi Jana Balawegaya) and the NPP (National People’s Power), apart from various smaller parties and independent candidates.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe of the UNP (United National Party) is contesting as an independent. Wickremesinghe, popularly known as RW, is being supported by many rebel legislators of the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) headed by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. Also in the contest are opposition leader Sajith Premadasa from the SJB alliance; leftist leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna) – the presidential candidate of NPP – and Mahinda’s son, Namal Rajapaksa, as the SLPP candidate.

Poll surveys and experts suggest that Lankan voters are prioritising issues such as economy, education, health, law, and security. Matters of corruption and wrongdoing among politicians, which dominated the electoral narrative, have receded into the background after the 2022 unrest. Since most governments in the past didn’t solve the corruption issue, people feel it’s better to talk about development. They hope to elect a leader who can pull them out of dire poverty.

Gloomy past

In the last election, held after the Easter bombings on April 21, 2019, Gotabaya Rajapaksa of SLPP (Namal’s uncle) won a decisive victory and Sajith Premadasa came second. However, three years later, the world saw Sri Lankans oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, having endured a steady economic slide. The flawed economic and monetary policies of Gotabaya, along with the COVID-19 pandemic that dented tourism – a chunk of the economy – resulted in an unsustainable debt level. In April 2022, Sri Lanka defaulted on its debt and asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance. The Russia-Ukraine war further aggravated the crisis with rising food, medicine and fuel prices resulting in mass protests never seen before in the country’s history.

The uprising was given the name of ‘Janatha Aragalaya‘ (a Sinhala term). Then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned and subsequently, his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa quit as President and fled. Ranil Wickremesinghe, a former minister, became Prime Minister. In July 2022, Ranil took over as president through a parliamentary vote with the support of the Rajapaksas’ party SLPP, which still has the majority in the legislature. Ranil Wickremesinghe adopted severe austerity measures, with support from the IMF.

New leaders

Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s inept governance and his decision to leave the country tarred the image of the Rajapaksa clan and the SLPP the most. Most SLPP MPs are supporting either Ranil or Sajith in this election. Namal Rajapaksa, they say, is just a symbolic candidate to keep the SLPP alive.

Sajith’s SJB has the support of the Tamil and Muslim minorities, who form 11% and 9% of the population.

Though Tamil parties have fielded a common candidate, the largest party ITAK (Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi) has extended its support to Sajith Premadasa. In 2019 also, Tamils had voted for Sajith but there was an unprecedented consolidation of Sinhala votes behind Gotabhaya Rajapaksa after the Easter bombings, which helped him win the election.

The political space created by Rajapaksas’ dismissal was filled by Anura Kumara Dissanayake and the JVP, who urged Sri Lankans to go for a broader change. Once in the margins, the party has emerged as a credible, major political force.

As far as Ranil Wickremesinghe is concerned, most members of his party UNP are now with Sajith, though he has support from some legislators of the SLPP like state Defence Minister Premitha Bandara Tennakoon. Ranil is banking on his handling of the economic crisis to fetch him votes.

“People want change this time. They don’t want to vote for the same party and old candidates. The new voters, especially on social media, are rooting for Anura Dissanayake. However, on the ground Sajith has a lot of support base, especially in the rural areas,” says Thushara Gooneratne, editor-in-chief, Mawrata News.

“Most people think of Sajith as pro-poor just like his father, former President R Premadasa.”

India’s Stake

In recent times, anti-India sentiment has surged in the neighbourhood, because of various reasons. Be it Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh, politicians have been successful in diverting the people’s ire towards India.

For India, the sorry plight of the Tamil population in the north and east of Sri Lanka has been a concern for a long time. Successive Lankan governments have failed to implement the 13th Amendment signed as part of India-Sri Lanka agreement in 1987, which provided for devolution of powers to local governments in the north and the east. India, in fact, raised the Sri Lankan Tamil issue at the 51st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2022. With the new government, India would like to push for the restoration of provincial councils, which would give a measure of autonomy to Lankan Tamils.

India has stakes in a stable and peaceful Sri Lanka. It wants to restrict China’s growing interference in the country because of its geo-strategic location in the Indo-Pacific. The 99-year lease of Hambantota port to China in 2017, feeding the debt-trap narrative, has exacerbated India’s concerns.

Anura Dissanayake’s party has often been seen as close to China, India’s principal geopolitical rival. But for some time now, Dissanayake has enjoyed a different kind of authority within Sri Lankan politics, which has in turn earned him recognition as a rising political force even from India’s point of view. As a reflection of this, New Delhi invited Dissanayake in February to engage with him.

“Whoever wins this time will engage with India. Sajith is pro-India. But even Dissanayake, who was known to be anti-India before. India is important for Sri Lanka’s growth and stability,” says Thushara.

India needs all the goodwill it can command in order to navigate the increasing complexities in the neighbourhood, The escalating regional conflicts and a continuous shift in the global economic order. A friendly, stable neighbourhood is a good start.