39 candidates are approved for Sri Lanka’s presidential election, the highest number ever

Associated Press

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka’s elections commission has accepted applications from a record 39 candidates to run in next month’s presidential election, which will decide the course of the country’s financial reforms to survive an unprecedented economic crisis. The commission said Thursday it received 39 applications and all were accepted. More than 17 million people are eligible to vote in the Sept. 21 election. Thirty-five candidates contested the last presidential election in 2019. The vote is seen as a referendum on difficult economic reforms initiated by current President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is one of the candidates. Sri Lanka is in the middle of a critical debt restructuring and financial reform program under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund.