People in Sri Lanka are voting in parliamentary elections soon, barely seven weeks after electing a new president.

More than 8,800 candidates are in the fray in an election marked by low-key campaigning.

Voting started at 07:00 local time (01:30 GMT) and will continue until 16:00 (10.30 GMT). The counting will begin in the evening and the results are expected on Friday.

Out of the 225 seats in the Parliament, 196 MPs will be directly elected. The rest will be nominated by the political parties on the basis of their percentage of votes which is called proportional representation.

“More than 8,800 candidates from 49 political parties and 284 independent groups are running, but only around 1,000 candidates,” Rohana Hetiarchy, executive director of poll monitoring group People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, told the BBC. has actively campaigned.”

High inflation, food and fuel shortages led to a political crisis in 2022 that led to the ouster of President Gotabaya Rajapakse. His successor Ranil Wickramasinghe was able to negotiate. A $3 billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund – But many Sri Lankans are feeling the economic hardship.

Manjula Devi, a 26-year-old garment factory worker in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone near Colombo, said, “We are still stuck with the same problems we faced earlier. We still don’t have financial support even with our own funds. able to meet daily needs.” told the BBC.

The number of people living below the poverty line in Sri Lanka has increased to 25.9% in the last four years. The World Bank expects the economy to grow at just 2.2 percent in 2024.

“Sri Lanka is still not out of the economic crisis of 2022, even with an IMF bailout,” Raisa Wickramatunge, deputy editor of Himmel South Asian magazine, told the BBC.

“I’m typing this from Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital, a government hospital that is switching off its lights and fans to cut skyrocketing electricity costs.”

In 2022, the country defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time, forcing it to take debt restructuring deals.

Observers expect a multi-party contest in the general election, with 17.1 million voters registered to take part. A split vote could ultimately kill the chances of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s party, the Janatha Vimukthi Pramona (JVP), to enact ambitious reforms.

“Analysts predict that he may struggle to get two-thirds and may have to depend on allies. This will make his job more difficult,” says Raisa Wickramatunge.

The election campaign was largely peaceful with no reports of polling-related deaths or large-scale misuse of government resources.

“Violence is negligible compared to previous elections. This will be a peaceful election,” hopes Rohana Hetiarchy.