Sri Lanka votes in a presidential election next month, the first since the country's unprecedented economic crisis forced Gotabaya Rajapaksa from office in 2022, with incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe facing formidable opposition.
Here are the five key contenders for the September 21 poll in the majority-Buddhist island nation of around 22 million people.
- Ranil Wickremesinghe -
Right-wing liberal Wickremesinghe is leveraging his economic management skills to secure re-election for a five-year term.
The 75-year-old lawyer, a six-time prime minister, was elected by parliament in July 2022 to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who resigned after months of street protests over economic mismanagement and corruption.
Since taking over, Wickremesinghe has negotiated a $2.9 billion bailout loan from the IMF, doubled personal taxes, frozen state employment, and cut energy subsidies.
He vows to continue the tough austerity measures he says are essential for a full economic recovery.
He leads the United National Party (UNP), but has presented himself as an independent candidate hoping for broader support.
- Sajith Premadasa -
Opposition Leader, 57-year-old Sajith Premadasa, is a former ally of Wickremesinghe turned nemesis.
The son of long-serving prime minster and president Ranasinghe Premadasa, he entered politics after his father was assassinated in 1993 by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber.
A keen cricketer, he studied in Britain -- including at the London School of Economics.
He was deputy leader of the UNP with Wickremesinghe, but split in 2020 to form the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJP) party and has accused his ex-comrade of being dictatorial.
Both men are ideologically aligned, espousing free-market policies, but Premadasa has pledged to reduce the income taxes raised by Wickremesinghe.
He lost the 2019 presidential poll but performed better in the August 2020 parliamentary elections, becoming leader of the opposition after his party won 54 seats.
Wickremesinghe's party won only one seat.
- Anura Kumara Dissanayaka -
The leader of the National People's Power (NPP) party, 55-year-old Anura Kumara Dissanayaka is also committed to the IMF bailout programme negotiated by Wickremesinghe, but opposes privatisation.
He also contested the 2019 presidential race, securing just over three percent of the vote.
Dissanayaka says he wants to attract voters fed up with traditional politicians and is regarded a dark horse with potential to stage an upset.
- Namal Rajapaksa -
The 38-year-old scion of the powerful Rajapaksa family is a last-minute entrant who has dimmed Wickremesinghe's prospects, as he had expected their support.
Many consider Namal's entry a dress rehearsal for the 2029 election.
The Rajapaksa family is plagued with allegations of nepotism and corruption.
But Namal's father, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, is popular among the majority Sinhalese community for crushing Tamil rebels and ending a decades-old separatist war.
"I will take the best out of my instincts and my father's policies," Namal told AFP after the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) party ticket was thrust upon him.
- Sarath Fonseka -
The 73-year-old former general Sarath Fonseka shares the credit for crushing Tamil rebels in a no-holds-barred war that ended in 2009.
But unlike the Rajapaksa family -- who ruled the country at the time -- Fonseka has vowed to go before any foreign tribunal to defend himself against allegations of war crimes while battling the separatists.
He contested the 2010 presidential election as an opposition candidate but lost to his former boss Mahinda Rajapaksa.
He was jailed and later pardoned, and is a thorn in the side of the Rajapaksas.