Sri Lanka Preps for High-Candidate Presidential Election Amid Financial Concerns

The Sri Lankan Finance State Minister, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, assured that the presidential election budget would not face issues despite a rise in candidate numbers. The Rs 10 billion allocated remains within limits. Immediate expenses like printing and security are covered, while other costs can be delayed until expenditure reports are submitted.

The increase in the number of candidates for the Sri Lankan presidential election would cause no expenditure issues, a minister said on Sunday.

Finance State Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the expenditure estimate for the election has not yet exceeded the Rs 10 billion limit.

If the number of candidates becomes too large for the ballot paper, an extension may be needed. This could lead to an increase in the number of ballot boxes and an additional cost of about Rs 100 million per candidate. However, preparations are being made to fund the submitted estimates, he said.

The Election Commission noted that Rs 10 billion has been allocated for the election. There is still money left after the allocations for the submitted estimates. They added that aside from expenses such as printing, security and transport, some costs like officials' allowances, do not need to be spent immediately, the minister said.

He said that the Finance Ministry should not entertain any doubts about the election funds as the money would be provided after the expenditure reports are submitted.

Siyambalapitiya said the expenditures such as printing, security and transport bills needed to be met immediately, while payments for officers and similar expenses could be met later after the submission of expenditure reports by the elections commission.

This will be the first election after Sri Lanka witnessed its worst-ever economic crisis in 2022.

The local council election for 340 local government bodies fixed for March last year was put on hold as the government claimed there was no money to spend. The Opposition challenged the government's decision in court and the cases are pending.

The Opposition claimed that the government was not conducting the polls for fear of losing.

In April 2022, Sri Lanka declared its first-ever sovereign default since gaining independence from Britain in 1948. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had made external debt restructuring conditional to the USD 2.9 billion bailout package, of which the third tranche was released to Sri Lanka in mid-June.

The Opposition has vowed to revise the IMF programme and remained critical of President Ranil Wickremesinghe, also the finance minister, for the financial burdens heaped on people by sticking to the IMF formula.

(With inputs from agencies.)