The country has been without a parliament since president Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked the assembly in March and then postponed polls scheduled for April citing the Covid-19 outbreak. Sri Lanka appears to have contained the virus, recording 2,823 cases including 11 deaths. Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa sacked the parliamentary assembly in March. Mahinda Rajapaksa, a charismatic strongman, served two terms as Sri Lanka’s president from 2005. A faction of the UNP, led by former prime minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, is also contesting the polls.

Source: The Guardian August 05, 2020 03:11 UTC