Colombo, Aug 15 (PTI) Sri Lanka’s election commission on Thursday allocated the cooking gas cylinder symbol to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is contesting the presidential election next month as an independent.
The country’s independent election commission, according to the law, allocates symbols to candidates not represented by a recognised political party. The presidential election is set for September 21. A record 39 candidates have filed their nominations.
The gas cylinder symbol allocated to 75-year-old Wickremesinghe is significant as it represents his two-year legacy of being the stop-gap president after the island nation in 2022 witnessed widespread mass protests due to the shortage of essentials, including cooking gas and fuel.
Sri Lanka in 2022 declared its first-ever sovereign default as it was gripped with its worst economic crisis since its independence from the British due to foreign exchange reserves depletion, leading to long queues for cooking gas.
Riots were reported in several parts of the country as angry citizens, carrying empty cylinders, queued up for essential supplies across the island.
Wickremesinghe took over as the prime minister from Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to resign and escape the island following widespread protests and the storming of the presidential palace by angry mobs, at the height of the crisis and took immediate action to stop gas shortages.
Having stepped in as the stop-gap president for the balance term of Gotabaya Rajapaksa with USD 4 billion worth of an Indian credit line, Wickremesinghe soon tackled the issue of shortages by introducing a set of hard reforms to address the economic woes.
The government entered the USD 3 billion bailout with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to steer the country out of crisis.
Two tranches of USD 330 million each were released in March and December 2023 even as the Washington-based global lender has praised Colombo for its macroeconomic policy reforms, which it said, “are starting to bear fruit”.
Wickremesinghe, who is also the finance minister, has said that by ongoing debt restructuring negotiations, the government was hoping to get time until 2042 to repay.
Addressing supporters after handing over nominations, Wickremesinghe appealed for public support to continue with his economic revival programme. PTI CORR PY AKJ PY PY
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