Presidential elections were held in Sri Lanka on 21 September 2024. Incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe ran for re-election as an independent candidate, making him the first sitting president to run for re-election since Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2015. Other prominent candidates included Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the NPP, and Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
The elections were a three-way contest between Wickremesinghe, Premadasa and Dissanayake. For the first time in a Sri Lankan presidential election, no candidate received a majority of the vote. Dissanayake was in first place with 42%, followed by Premadasa with 33%. Incumbent president Wickremesinghe finished third, receiving only 17% of the vote. As no candidate received a majority, second preference votes were counted. The following day, Dissanayake was declared the winner with 56% of the vote after second preferences had been taken into account. He was inaugurated on 23 September.
The elections signified a major political realignment in Sri Lanka. Dissanayake's victory was the first time a third-party candidate was elected president. This was also the first election where neither of the top two candidates were endorsed by the United National Party or the Sri Lanka Freedom Party.
Background
The last direct presidential elections held in Sri Lanka were in 2019, where SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the election in a landslide victory, defeating his main opponent Sajith Premadasa.
Rajapaksa resigned on 14 July 2022 during the 2022 Sri Lankan protests. This triggered an indirect presidential election via Parliament a week later, to elect a successor according to the Article 40 of the Constitution. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who had been appointed as Prime Minister by Rajapaksa just two months earlier, received the most votes and was sworn in as the 9th President of Sri Lanka on 21 July 2022.
Article 40 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka states that "Any person so succeeding to the office of President shall hold office only for the unexpired period of the term of office of the President vacating office. President Wickremesinghe's term expired on 17 November 2024.
Discussion surrounding the 2024 election had been a major topic since the beginning of the year. The Election Commission stated that the election had to be held between 17 September and 16 October, as required by the Constitution. On 26 July, the Election Commission issued a Gazette notification declaring that the election would be held on 21 September 2024, with nominations for candidates to be submitted by 15 August. The commission chose to hold the election on a Saturday, stating that this would help ensure a high voter turnout. On the same day, Ranil Wickremesinghe announced his candidacy for a second term as president, running as an independent candidate.
Approximately 17 million people were eligible to vote in this election.
Electoral system
Type of electoral system
The President of Sri Lanka is elected through a system of limited ranked voting. Voters can express up to three ranked preferences for the presidency. If no candidate receives more than 50% of all valid votes in the first count, all candidates except the two who received the highest number of votes are eliminated. The second and third preference votes of the eliminated candidates are then redistributed to the remaining two candidates until one of them secures an outright majority.
In practice, this system had seen no use. Every presidential election since the first in 1982 had resulted in a candidate from one of the major parties or alliances winning an outright majority in the first count. Consequently, most voters choose to mark only one candidate on their ballots, and many are either unaware that they can rank multiple candidates or choose not to exercise that prerogative.
Voting procedure
The Election Commission outlined the voting procedure on 30 August 2024, detailing the ranked voting system due to the multiple candidates contesting the presidential election, ensuring voters were informed on how to cast and submit their ballots. Voting began at 13,134 polling stations nationwide at 7:00 AM SLST on 21 September and closed at 4:00 PM SLST.
Postal voting
The Election Commission announced the dates and locations for postal voting in a media release on 29 August 2024. This facility is available only to pre-approved officials engaged in election duties. Postal voting was conducted on 4, 5, 6, 11, and 12 September, strictly according to the provided schedule.
Ballot boxes and security systems
Due to the larger size of the ballot papers, the Election Commission has opted to use cardboard ballot boxes instead of traditional wooden ones. These boxes will be available in three sizes. A combination of wooden and cardboard ballot boxes was used in the 2019 Sri Lankan presidential election and the 2020 Sri Lankan parliamentary election.
To further ensure security, the government imposed a liquor ban on the weekend of 21 to 22 September and deployed more than 63,000 police officers to secure polling stations and counting centres. It also banned the holding of victory rallies or celebrations until a week after the results were announced. A nighttime curfew was also declared after the end of voting, which was lifted at noon on 22 September.
Candidates
By the end of candidate registration on 15 August, the Election Commission had accepted a total of 39 applications for the presidential election, the highest number ever recorded for a presidential election in Sri Lanka. One candidate, Mohamed Illiyas, died of a heart attack prior to the election. His name on the ballot was not replaced. Despite the record number of candidates, none were female.
Other candidates
In addition to the four candidates mentioned above, 35 other candidates ran in the election.
One of the main reasons for the proliferation of candidates is the low election deposit required to contest – Rs. 50,000 (US$170) for party candidates and Rs. 75,000 (US$250) for independent candidates. These amounts that have remained unchanged since the introduction of presidential elections in 1982.
Many of the minor candidates are accused of being proxy or dummy candidates put forward by the main contenders to maximise the benefits of candidacy, such as having two agents at every polling station, assigning counting agents, receiving free slots on state television, and gaining general media coverage.
Withdrawn candidates
The following candidates initially declared their intentions to contest the election but later withdrew from the campaign.
Rejected candidates
The following candidate placed his deposit before the nomination date but failed to appear and submit his nomination papers.
Campaign
Ranil Wickremesinghe highlighted his administration's success in resolving shortages of basic goods. Anura Kumara Dissanayake campaigned on a platform promoting economic freedoms and welfare protections for the working class. Sajith Premadasa vowed to mitigate the impact of the International Monetary Fund's restructuring programme on the poor and promised devolved political powers to the Tamil minority. Namal Rajapaksa pledged to reduce tax burdens, attributing the recent economic and political crises to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abolition of executive presidency
During the election campaign, both Dissanayake and Premadasa promised that, if elected, they would abolish the executive presidential system and return the country to a parliamentary democracy. This familiar pre-election pledge had been declared by numerous candidates in the past, yet hopes have been met with doubt.
On 23 September 2024, National People's Power member Sunil Handunnetti informed the media that the abolition of the executive presidency remains a priority for the government led by newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.
Debates
The first presidential debate was scheduled for 7 September 2024, hosted by the March 12 Movement. Four candidates, Sajith Premadasa, Namal Rajapaksa, Dilith Jayaweera, and P. Ariyanethiran, confirmed their participation. The debate took place at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) and was broadcast live on mainstream television and social media platforms. However, despite initial confirmations, only Dilith Jayaweera attended the debate.
Election monitors
Following an invitation from the Election Commission of Sri Lanka, the European External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union (EU) will deploy an Election Observation Mission (EOM) to observe the Presidential Election scheduled for 21 September.
The Election Commission further announced that representatives from 12 countries have been invited to observe the upcoming election. Among those participating are South Asian countries such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Maldives, as well as a Commonwealth observer group (COG) and representatives from the Asian Election Observation Network.
Campaign finances
Expenditure cap and regulations
The Election Commission, through a Gazette notification (Gazette Extraordinary – No. 2397/66 on 16 August 2024), set an expenditure cap of Rs. 109 per voter for the 2024 presidential election. As a result, each candidate is now permitted to spend a maximum of Rs. 1.8 billion (Rs. 1,868,298,586). These regulations have been enforced under the Regulation of Election Expenditure Act, No. 3 of 2023, which was certified on 24 January 2023.
Candidate asset declarations
Under the Anti-Corruption Act, election candidates must submit a Declaration of Assets and Liabilities to the Commissioner of Elections with their nomination papers, covering assets and liabilities up to the date the election is announced.
After candidates in the Presidential Election submitted their declarations to the Elections Commission on 15 August 2024, the deadline for nomination papers, the commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) obtained and published redacted versions on its official website.
Opinion polls
Institute for Health Policy
The Institute for Health Policy (IHP) is an independent research institution.
The following nationwide presidential poll was conducted by the IHP. The poll ranked Sajith Premadasa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Ranil Wickremesinghe, and a generic SLPP candidate. All polls conducted before Namal Rajapaksa announced his candidacy on 7 August, including the IHP MRP Presidential Election Update June 2024 released on 1 August, did not account for his entry.
Numbers.lk
Numbers.lk is a platform that curates and presents statistics related to Sri Lanka.
Favourability ratings
- Negative scores, which denote a net favourability rating below zero, indicate that the individual or institution is considered unpopular. In contrast, positive scores, where the net favourability is above zero, suggest that the individual or institution is generally regarded as popular.
In the Institute for Health Policy (IHP) Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) polling, all major party candidates continued to have negative favourability ratings. The net favourability rating of Anura Kumara Dissanayake increased by 12 points to −10, while the favourability ratings of Sajith Premadasa and incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe each decreased by 9 points, to −53 and −77, respectively.
In IHP SLOTS polling, the net favourability rating of Sajith Premadasa increased by 30 points to −30 in March compared to the previous month, while the favourability ratings of Anura Kumara Dissanayake and President Ranil Wickremesinghe remained relatively unchanged at −24 (down 2 points) and −78 (up 1 point), respectively.
In the IHP SLOTS polling conducted in July 2024, the net favourability rating of Anura Kumara Dissanayake rose by 29 points from June, reaching +3. President Ranil Wickremesinghe's favourability improved by 40 points to −24, surpassing that of Sajith Premadasa. Sajith Premadasa's favourability rating changed little, shifting from −42 in June to −44 in July.
In the IHP SLOTS polling for August 2024, the net favourability rating of Sajith Premadasa improved to −32, a 10-point increase compared to July. Meanwhile, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and President Ranil Wickremesinghe saw their favourability ratings drop to −21 (a decrease of 16 points) and −33 (a decrease of 4 points), respectively. The favourability rating of Namal Rajapaksa, stood at −89.