The Election Commission of Sri Lanka has announced that the presidential election will take place on September 21. This election is expected to be significant for the country’s reforms, as Sri Lanka continues to recover from its worst financial crisis in decades. Nominations for the election are to be submitted by August 15.

Current President Ranil Wickremesinghe has already registered his candidacy, according to his office. Wickremesinghe, 75, assumed office in July 2022 after extensive protests, triggered by the severe financial crisis, forced his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to flee the country and subsequently resign. Wickremesinghe was elected by parliament to complete Rajapaksa’s five-year term, which began in 2019.

“This election comes after a long period of political and economic turmoil,” reports Minelle Fernandez from Al Jazeera, based in the capital, Colombo. “The country is undergoing a significant economic crisis, with people struggling to afford basic necessities like food, medicine, and fuel.”

Of Sri Lanka’s 22 million residents, nearly 17 million are eligible to vote. RMAL Rathnayake, the chairman of the Election Commission, announced that the election is scheduled for a Saturday to ensure high voter turnout. The island nation in the Indian Ocean declared bankruptcy in April 2022, with a debt exceeding $83 billion, more than half of which is owed to foreign creditors.

Last year, Sri Lanka turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance to rescue its economy and received a bailout package. Under the $2.9 billion program, Wickremesinghe has been focused on rebuilding the devastated economy, with inflation dropping from 70% in September 2022 to 1.7% in June.

The economy is projected to grow by 3% in 2024 after contracting by 2.3% last year, following a 7.3% decline in 2022 when the crisis peaked. Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who leads the Marxist-oriented Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), are also expected to run for the presidency. Premadasa and Dissanayake have expressed a commitment to reforming the IMF program to alleviate the cost of living and ease the debt burden.

However, the economic recovery remains fragile, and analysts warn that attempts to roll back reforms could lead to another crisis. “What we need from this election is for the progress we have seen to continue,” states Raynal Wickremeratne, co-head of research at Softlogic Stockbrokers. “Sri Lanka is not in a position to engage in trial and error.”