Sri Lankans head to the polls Saturday to elect a new President months after deadly terrorist attacks shook confidence in the government and security services and left more than 250 people dead.
A record 35 candidates are vying to replace outgoing President Maithripala Sirisena, and election officials said the ballot paper will be 26 inches long in order to include them all.
The 70-year-old Rajapaksa only this year renounced his dual-US citizenship in order to contest the poll. He has been closely flanked at all public and media appearances by his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is blocked from running after serving two terms as President from 2005 to 2015. Premadasa is deputy leader of the ruling United National Party , but is contesting the election as a representative of the New Democratic Front, a coalition of right-wing parties.
While Sirisena is not barred from running, he has chosen not to stand in the upcoming election and instead will remain"neutral." Despite this, his Sri Lanka Freedom Party is backing Rajapaksa, though some prominent members have come out in favor of Premadasa. The bombings shattered an uneasy sense of security that had built slowly after the end of the 25-year civil war with Tamil separatists, and devastated a thriving tourism industry, that saw 2.33 million arrivals in 2018. They also sparked a return to interethnic strife, as hardline Sinhalese nationalists and Buddhist extremists were emboldened to attack the country's Muslim minority.
Fonseka was a strident critic of the government's handling of the Easter bombings, and warned that the country was failing to"maintain the peace we had won."
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