COLOMBO: Sri Lanka imposed a night curfew across the country on Saturday despite a peaceful presidential election that is effectively a referendum on an unpopular IMF bailout.

Police announced the eight-hour curfew shortly after the independent Election Commission said Saturday’s poll was the most peaceful in the country’s electoral history. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is facing an uphill battle to retain power, imposed the unexpected travel restriction “as an additional measure to protect people”, police said in a statement.

It urged people to remain indoors. Earlier in the day, the government declared Monday a special public holiday. Results of Saturday’s election are expected on Sunday.

Turnout was at an estimated 75 per cent when polling stations closed after nine hours of balloting, an election official said, citing provisional figures. The record for voter turnout in a Sri Lankan presidential election was set in 2019 with 83.72 per cent.

Wickremesinghe is seeking re-election to continue belt-tightening measures that stabilised the economy and ended months of food, fuel and medicine shortages after Sri Lanka’s worst economic meltdown in 2022.

His two years in office restored calm to the streets after civil unrest spurred by the downturn saw thousands storm the compound of his predecessor Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country as anger mounted. “I’ve taken this country out of bankruptcy,” Wickremesinghe, 75, said after casting his ballot.

But Wickremesinghe’s tax hikes and other measures, imposed under the terms of a $2.9-billion IMF bailout, have left millions struggling to make ends meet.

“The country has been through a lot,” lawyer and musician Soundarie David Rodrigo told AFP after casting her vote in Colombo.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2024