Namal Rajapaksa, the son of former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has officially announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in the country, scheduled for September 21. The election is taking place amidst Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in decades.

The 38-year-old Rajapaksa declared his candidacy during a Buddhist ceremony in the capital city of Colombo as a member of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party. He will challenge the current president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, whom many analysts view as the frontrunner in the election. Wickremesinghe was elected by Parliament in July 2022 and has navigated the country through a financial crisis that sparked widespread protests against corruption and poor governance, which ultimately led to the resignation of his predecessor, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

SLPP’s General Secretary, Sagara Kariyawasam, stated, “After careful consideration, the party has decided to make Namal Rajapaksa our presidential candidate.” Namal, who previously served as Minister of Sports during his father’s presidency, indicated that the current circumstances forced him to enter the race, although he had originally intended to run in 2029.

“We must now sit down and plan the campaign, as this is something I did not expect,” he told AFP after announcing his candidacy. His entry follows the withdrawal of expected candidate Dhammika Perera, a businessman who stepped back for personal reasons.

Namal expressed the desire to be “his own character” but acknowledged that he would have to contend with both the positive and negative aspects of his family’s legacy. “This is something I will face throughout my life, not just in this election,” he remarked.

Namal Rajapaksa’s candidacy will serve as a litmus test for his influential family, which has produced two presidents, to gauge whether they have retained their popularity despite the country’s economic collapse. In April 2022, Sri Lanka became the first Asian nation to default on $46 billion of foreign debt, as the country ran out of foreign currency for essential imports. Since then, Sri Lanka has signed a $10 billion restructuring deal with bilateral creditors and aims to finalize a $12.5 billion debt restructuring with bondholders, which Namal has stated he will support.

Wickremesinghe has previously contested two presidential elections but lost both times. Nonetheless, he has served as Prime Minister six times since entering Parliament in 1977. He is seeking a full five-year term to continue implementing his austerity measures, which he believes are essential to securing the country’s reserves and initiating the repayment of its external loans.

Namal Rajapaksa’s entry adds several competitors to the presidential race, which now features four main candidates. Two other candidates, Sajith Premadasa and Anura Kumara Dissanayake, have announced they will continue with the $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package that Wickremesinghe negotiated last year, but they plan to reduce taxes and halt privatization. Dissanayake, who leads a leftist party, also promises to prosecute members of the Rajapaksa family as well as Wickremesinghe, who are accused of obstructing investigations into corruption during their time in power.