Sri Lanka will hold presidential election on Sept. 21, its first since declaring bankruptcy in 2022

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka will hold a presidential election on Sept. 21 that will likely be a test of confidence in President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s efforts to resolve the country’s worst economic crisis.

The date was announced by the independent elections commission Friday, which said nominations will be accepted on Aug. 15.

Wickremesinghe is expected to run while his main rivals will be opposition leader Sajith Premadasa and Anura Dissanayake, who is the leader of a leftist political party that has gained popularity after the economic debacle.

It will be the first election in the South Asian island nation after it declared bankruptcy in 2022 and suspended repayments on some $83 billion in domestic and foreign loans.

That followed a severe foreign exchange crisis that led to a severe shortage of essentials such as food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, and extended power outages.

The election is largely seen as a crucial vote for the island nation’s efforts to conclude a critical debt restructuring program and as well as completing the financial reforms agreed under a bailout program by the International Monetary Fund.

The country’s economic upheaval led to a political crisis that forced then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign in 2022. Parliament then elected the then-Prime Minister Wickremesinghe as president.

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Under Wickremesinghe, Sri Lanka has been negotiating with the international creditors to restructure the