Sri Lanka new president is elected by the parliament  as protesters wait

• According to numerous demonstrators, if one of the top two candidates, acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe, wins the election, there may be additional protests by disgruntled citizens of Sri Lanka following months of chronic fuel, food, and medication shortages.
• With only three seats in the 225-member parliament under his control, the third contender, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the leader of the left-leaning Janatha Vimukti Peramuna party, has little chance of winning.
• Six-time prime minister Wickremesinghe was appointed interim president last week when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was in power at the time, fled to Singapore after tens of thousands of people demonstrated against his administration and occupied his home and office.

As parliamentarians prepared to pick between three candidates for president on Wednesday, Sri Lankan authorities surrounded parliament with tight security in the hopes that the new president would be able to steer the island out of its dire economic and political situation.

According to numerous demonstrators, if one of the top two candidates, acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe, wins the election, there may be additional protests by disgruntled citizens of Sri Lanka following months of chronic fuel, food, and medication shortages.

Duminda Nagamuwa, who organised protests in Colombo after the nominees were announced, stated that “we cannot have stability if Ranil comes (to power).” Other demonstrators claim the acting president is a supporter of the influential Rajapaksa family, who they hold responsible for the economic crisis.

Although Dullas Alahapperuma, a congressman from the ruling party, is the other leading contender and is more popular with the demonstrators and the opposition, he lacks experience at the highest levels of governance in a nation that has no money for imports and is in serious need of an IMF bailout.

With only three seats in the 225-member parliament under his control, the third contender, Anura Kumara Dissanayaka, the leader of the left-leaning Janatha Vimukti Peramuna party, has little chance of winning.

Around the parliament building, hundreds of police, paramilitary, and military personnel were stationed, and one of the access roads had at least three barricades. Armed military jeeps and armoured vehicles were placed around the building’s perimeter, as security guards in speed boats patrolled a nearby lake.

Six-time prime minister Wickremesinghe was appointed interim president last week when Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was in power at the time, fled to Singapore after tens of thousands of people demonstrated against his administration and occupied his home and office.

Additionally, protesters broke into Wickremesinghe’s office and set fire to his private residence.

How much parliamentary support 73-year-old Wickremesinghe and 63-year-old Alahapperuma have is not immediately evident.

A portion of the ruling party, which held 145 seats overall as of the most recent parliamentary election in 2020, supports Wickremesinghe. The biggest opposition party, which garnered 54 seats the previous time around, as well as the other section of the population support Alahapperuma. He has also received the support of a number of small parties.

Because several lawmakers have switched to independence, the most recent statistics are unclear.

Ranil Wickremesinghe had previously been the front-runner, but Jayadeva Uyangoda, a political scientist, claimed that the outcome is now much less likely.

“The power dynamic in the legislature has shifted away from him. The Rajapaksas’ level of influence over their party members will determine the outcome.”

President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated in 1993, and D.B. Wijetunga was unanimously selected by Sri Lanka’s parliament to complete his term. Three contenders are vying to finish Rajapaksa’s tenure, which expires in 2024, this time.

According to a statement from the communications director of parliament, the procedure “will be recorded as an unprecedented experience in the parliamentary history of this country.”

A candidate will be deemed elected if they receive more than one-third of the valid votes cast. If no candidate receives the required number of votes, the one with the fewest votes will be withdrawn from the race, and parliamentarians’ preferences will be taken into consideration to determine the eventual victor.