For the first time in 44 years, Sri Lanka’s Parliament will directly elect a President on Wednesday in a triangular contest, with last minute political manoeuvring indicating an edge for Dullas Alahapperuma over Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe after he received crucial backing from the Opposition parties as well as a majority of lawmakers from his parent party.
Wickremesinghe, Alahapperuma and leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake were proposed by lawmakers on Tuesday as the three candidates for the July 20 presidential election to pick the successor to Gotabaya Rajapaksa after he resigned following a popular uprising against his Government for mismanaging the economy that forced him to flee the country.
A majority of members of the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party was in favour of nominating Alahapperuma, a leader of its breakaway faction, for the post of the President and principal Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa as the Prime Minister, Chairman of the SLPP, GL Peiris, said on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday’s presidential election.
Although analysts here believe that 73-year-old Wickremesinghe is in the lead, the evidence of numbers in the 225-assembly don’t necessarily suggest it would be plain sailing. Without the ruling SLPP’s backing, Wickremesinghe would be a non-starter as he only has his seat in Parliament to be in the reckoning.
Going back to the original parliamentary composition in August 2020, the SLPP number of 145 had seen reversals with 52 of the lawmakers breaking away. The total of 93 later became 97 with 4 lawmakers returning.
Wickremesinghe needs 16 more votes to cross the magical figure of 113 in the 225-member house.